A small piece of a condo project encroaching onto state land is irritating some residents, and now they want the developer to either tear it down and rebuild the affected wall, or purchase over the 15-sq-m site from the government.
The infringement occurred when the project was being constructed in the 1990s. The interim management council of the Great Victoria Development (GVD) had talked with the authorities for a temporary occupation license (TOL) for the encroaching land parcel.
However, the residents of Country Grandeur in Lorong Puntong allegedly only learned about the TOL – an entry which cropped up in the accounts of the estate’s management corporation – during the annual general meeting held in December 2009.
According to residents, they were unhappy that they were not informed that GVD had negotiated for a TOL with the authorities.
The developer turned the management of the new estate over to residents in 1999.
Several residents in the 66-unit estate, located off Sin Ming Avenue, felt that the developer should have settled the problem rather than pass it on to them.
On behalf of the residents, the management council wrote a letter to GVD in January, giving the developer two alternatives.
First, that it purchase the portion of land with all costs to be shouldered by GVD; or, second, that it tear down the wall and rebuild it and any facilities affected by the demolition work.
In the letter, the residents also demand the developer to return all the money tapped from the funds of the management corporation to pay the TOL fee over the years.
"The amount ($120) is not important but the ramifications are," said one resident.
"What would happen if, one day, the Government decides to develop the State land or stop the TOL?"