Personal Experience of a Downgrader after a bitter En Bloc

In a few more weeks, my family will be kicked out of our home. Yes. KICKED OUT because of a successful en bloc which we did not agree to.

A home that was renovated not more than a few years ago, from top to bottom including brand new marbled floors, new fixtures, new furniture, everything from scratch. We thought, naively, that it was to be our home for the next few decades.

Barely after we moved in, a pro-tem SC proudly announced the en bloc. Our estate was not old at that time. It now looks run down because EVERY upkeep and updating of the estate was put on hold. This just before they started the en bloc attempt.

My family refused to be subjected to en bloc again. We thought fine, let’s get ourselves a new condo, so that we can have at least 10 years of peace before some IDIOT decides to champion an en bloc at our new home. Because of the property market boom, we had no choice but to buy a property, downgrading from a 1800 sqf perfectly renovated and absolutely spacious home on a quiet road, to a 1200 sqf home near a main road with all sorts of useless corners designed by architects who looked like they have never tried living in an apartment.

Then the nightmare started. Almost all our furniture could not fit the new place. They have to be replaced with smaller versions. We have a tight schedule within which to move home, install new fixtures in the new home, get furniture, get quotations for movers, cancel utilities, transfer utilities, change of addresses, all these amidst our hectic lives.

We will make no profit by the end of our move when we factor in what we’d spent for our old home, and what we need to spend for our new one.

We are frustrated, upset, that this is happening to us. People who say “just move elsewhere” do not realize that it isn’t that convenient, practical nor even realistic to do so. SACRIFICES always have to be made when we move homes, and EVEN BIGGER SACRIFICES when we move from a cherished home.

People who are thinking of signing the Collective Sale Agreement, of that profit and windfall – think carefully, especially after you’ve factored in all the other costs. If you’re not losing your home, then that’s not a problem. But if you have to move, how often are you prepared to do so, and what’s the cost to you, your family, your finances, when you do so?

Those residents who eagerly signed for the en bloc in our estate, and who have to move now, are regretting it. We say to them, TOO LITTLE TOO LATE. They could have kept their homes and not have the hassle and trauma of moving, but they were BLINDED by what they thought was going to be profits.

Are we angry? Yes! For losing our home which we love and built, literally from the bare cement. For policy makers who do not CARE about the consequences of en blocs to people’s lives. For individuals who do not care about people who have valid reasons to STAY in a place they love. For a society that continues to NAIVELY think that en blocs are great.

IT ISN'T. IT NEVER WILL BE. NOT FOR US.

-article courtesy Dr Minority @Enblocinsingapore.blogspot.com