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Toa Payoh
Vets Clinical Research
Making veterinary surgery alive
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FLOWERS OR BLADE FOR THE WIFE
Dr Sing Kong Yuen,
BVMS (Glasgow), MRCVS.
Date:
24 February, 2010 |
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 toapayohvets.com
Be Kind To Pets
Veterinary Education
Project 2010-0129 |
February 22, 2010
(First Appointment in the Resale of an HDB apartment)
"Tonight, I will present my wife with a bouquet of
flowers and a blade," the husband's first appointment at
the Housing & Development Board (HDB) was
aborted by a letter from his wife. The HDB officer
pointed to a 2-page letter hand-written in big
letters from his file across the table from the husband and said: "Your
wife had written to object to the sale of the HDB flat.
I can't proceed with the sales of your HDB apartment
today. You have to engage a private lawyer or bring your wife
to see me to withdraw her objection. I am sorry I can't
proceed with the processing of the sale now."
The husband was a man in dire straits. Down and out. A
bankrupt. "How do you expect him to engage the services
of a private lawyer when he is a bankrupt and
unemployed?" I asked the HDB official. That was not
his problem and so the question was antagonistic as I
read his facial expression of self control. Sad
relationship and financial distress stories - too many
of them in his long years of service at the HDB - had
immunised him and hardened his soul over the years to
maintain his sanity.
I was helping
rookie Realtor Khin Khin in her first case with this
husband. This case just freaked her out. There were many
obstacles in this resale of a HDB flat. Earlier, a caveat
was lodged by a bank of this man's first buyer, but the
caveat was then withdrawn. The sale was nearly aborted
as the second buyer wanted out. HDB resale prices kept
shooting up and this husband was happy if the second
buyer would not proceed with the sale. But his hands
were tied as HDB had given him an ultimatum. He was to
sell or his flat would be forced-bought by the HDB by
giving him only 90% of the valuation. We got to the
first appointment today. HDB has complicated procedures
with the first and second appointments after the
submission of the sales documents, dragging the whole
transaction to as long as 3 months.
I thought
this first appointment was a formality. The racehorse
had galloped past the turn and was in the straight
heading towards the finishing post. All blue sky and
sunshine now.
The Buyer's Agent, a slim serious looking housing agent
who had just given the HDB officer the original letter
from the Official Assignee (OA) approving the sale of
this HDB flat said, "The private lawyer could be paid
from the proceeds of the sale."
The HDB officer flashed the OA's letter at her as if she
had not understood the contents of the letter and said, "I am
sorry to say that there will no proceeds from the sale
for the Seller."
He meant that the OA would grab all the
monies on completion of the sale. So, the Seller will
have no money to pay a
private lawyer's fees. This would be at least $1,200 in
cash. More if the case is complicated. This man in dire
straits was seen hanging around a shopping mall according to
Khin Khin who frequented the same place. Therefore he
could not be gainfully employed.
"If the private lawyer is paid, is there a guarantee
that the sale can proceed despite the wife's objections?" I
asked the HDB officer, a pale-faced trim man with
reddish brown and greyish hair. He would not give
any legal advices. Why should he take the risk and lose
his pension as he would be at an age quite near to
retirement? In Singapore, retirement age is 62
years now and any mistake made in the handling of this
case may result in the employer getting rid of him
sooner.
There was a question of the legality of ownership. I
asked, "The husband is the owner. The wife has no
shares. She is just an Occupant. Is it not possible for
you to complete the first appointment for him?" There
would be another appointment to complete the sale and
that would take at least 5 weeks as the Buyer's private
lawyer would not complete any sale earlier than 5 weeks.
So, there would be many opportunities for any
disaffected party to block the completion of the sale.
 "No,"
the HDB officer was adamant. "I will lose my job if I do
it. Get a private lawyer to sort out the problem." This
seemed incredible. A person who is the legal owner of a
HDB property cannot sell just because his wife objects
to it. What is the role of the HDB in this situation?
The OA had approved the sale. The HDB disapproved of the
sale due to an objection by a person who had no shares.
This HDB officer was a kind man as he offered the
husband his lunch-time next
week to bring the wife to see him to withdraw the
objection.
He could just postpone the next appointment
several weeks later if he exercised his powers as a
bureaucrat. The HDB
officials are very helpful in some of my experiences of
dealing with them.
If this man in dire straits could not sell
his HDB apartment, the HDB would buy back at 90% of
valuation. That meant he would lose at least 10% of the
sales proceeds. Although he would not get any cash at
the completion of sales, he still would get money
returned to his Central Provident Fund (CPF) as mandated
by law. The OA
would return all his CPF monies from the sales proceeds
to the CPF before paying the other creditors, less 10%
since the HDB had foreclosed.
I
calculated that the balance would be around $5,000 for
the creditors who had lodged claims. It is goodbye to
the money of other creditors who have not lodged any
claim.
With his wife's objection lodged without his knowledge 2
months ago, he was fixed now. Apparently his wife had
the "keys" to the letter box and would collect all
letters. So, he did not know about this matter assuming
that the HDB had written to him.
If the HDB forced sale his
apartment, he would lose out a lot of money to be
returned to his CPF. As the HDB officer had already gave
us his lunch time to meet next week, I urged the husband
to leave quickly. Nobody was interested in his
relationship with his wife or his personal problems.
As we left the HDB, I knew that this man was pushed to
his mental limits. He had no support group to share his
problems unlike Alcoholics Anonymous.
Would he be committing murder? I was worried as many men
pushed to the pits would commit murder as in one of my
clients, the story of whom is recounted below.
I had one of my dog-owner clients really committing
murder. This man was a taxi-driver and I knew him when I
was a Singapore Turf Club equine vet some 20 years ago.
He was a friend of a horse trainer.
He had an Indonesian businessman who entrusted him with
the sale of prawn crackers. He introduced the Indonesian
to a Singaporean businessman who had offices in Beach
Road. He would get a commission on success of the sale.
After the Indonesian had checked out this contact and
went to the office, he sent a container of prawn
crackers to the office. The Singaporean closed the
office and disappeared. Being a taxi-driver, he spotted
this Singaporean one day. He took out his parang
(machete) from his taxi. He stopped his taxi and
sprinted towards this Singaporean. His blade slashed
this fleeing con man with all the powers of heaven and
hell. All over this scam man's body. The man did not
die. The judge was understanding but he had to be
imprisoned.
I did not know about his imprisonment but when he
consulted me after he served his sentence, he said "Doc,
your waiting area is where I lived for the last 3
years." My waiting area was some 5 sq metres and that
was his prison.
Therefore, I was worried about this present case. So I
asked the man in dire straits: "Why do you want to
present your wife the flowers and the blade together?"
"Well,
she has to choose one or the other," the man in dire
straits said. "It will be best if you can arrange a
meeting with your wife and I together to talk over," I
knew that this man had suppressed his emotions and his
frustrations for many months. I was surprised that he
was not involved with the loan sharks as his HDB
apartment was spared the spraying of paint and
vandalism. He and his wife were residing there in peace.
If he could complete the sale of his HDB apartment, he
could have some freedom to travel overseas to work. Now,
the OA would not permit him to travel overseas as he did
not "contribute" to return monies to the debtors.
It is not easy to contact this man by phone as his
top-up card and phones keep being "lost". Now, there are
7 days to wait and see. Now there is real danger for the
wife as I doubt she would accept the bouquet of flowers.
Apparently she was not interested in money as she was
from a rich family. So what game was she playing? Adults
do play games.
This seemed to me to be a game of hostility and
indifference with potentially fatal consequences for the
wife. She probably was not aware of the suppressed
emotions of a husband who was not able to find
employment for many months. The husband had told me
about the flowers and a blade presentation for his wife.
There was forewarning of dark clouds of emotions in the
horizon.
I suspect that the estranged wife could not help herself
or extricate herself out of a situation and get on with
a new life. She would not let go and this HDB resale was
her chance to hit out. I had offered to meet both the
husband and the wife to come to an amicable solution.
When love had flown out of the door, alienation now
resided in the home. It is hard for a woman to let go so
easily.
The next day, I phoned the husband. He did not respond
to several calls. There are six days to go. If a murder
can be prevented, I will do it. |
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Be Kind To Pets
Veterinary Education
Project 2010-0129 |
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 Toa
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Clinical Research
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All rights reserved. Revised: February 24, 2010
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