Better to have an en bloc sale now for a 99-year leasehold property

These days, the owners of freehold or 99-year leasehold real estate and even commercial buildings are aggressively seeking collective sales.

It is especially pressing for a 99-year leasehold property to be sold before its lease expires.

I have been living in a unit at a well-known condominium for years. It is a very nice place, filled with happy memories for me. My children were born here, had a happy childhood here and were educated in the good schools nearby, but now, I have to face the 99-year lease problem.

I am 70 years old, and the condo has about 63 years of lease left.

If I live to see the lease end, I will be 133. It is unlikely I will have to worry about whether I will still have a home then, but my children or grandchildren will have to face that eventuality.

I hope I will not be a father who ends up leaving hard problems for his children to solve. It is very unfair to them.

Before the lease expires, I fully support the idea that the condo be sold in an en bloc sale.

The property was once regarded as the “pearl of East Coast”, but as it ages, it is gradually losing its shine.

When the lease is due and the land is returned to the Government, the value of the property is essentially zero. Homeowners have to move out without compensation.

It is a terrible feeling to know that your life-long investment will be gone like that. Therefore, if the owners can sell their units collectively at reasonable prices, they will not leave empty-handed.

I thank the group of owners who have voluntarily organised a collective sale committee at my condo. They are caring and looking out for the value of our property. I would feel guilty if I do not support them.

The existing and impending problems are clearly presented.

If there is no collective sale, the cost of maintaining the condo is huge. Each homeowner must share the huge maintenance expenses.

Apart from that, the individual housing units are also ageing and owners will have to pay repair costs.

Together, it will not be a small sum of money to maintain the common areas and your own unit.

However, there are also concerns from those who are reluctant to sell collectively.

These owners worry that the money they receive from the sale will not be enough to buy them units elsewhere, and they have to move away from their familiar surroundings and their good friends and neighbours.

Yet, all these will happen anyway even after the lease expires, just that it will happen decades later.

There may be an impact on residents’ emotional and psychological well-being over time, especially if the community spirit in the estate is strong.

Again, this will also happen after the lease expires. If so, what is the difference between having it happen now or later?

If there is no en bloc sale, more good neighbours will still move out due to various reasons, and strangers will move in to be new neighbours. Those who have moved out will also have new neighbours.

Some owners may argue that, in the long term, we will all be dead, so leaving monetary gain aside, one may just prefer to continue living in the condo until the lease ends.

I am quite surprised to know this. If I were 30 years old now, in another 63 years, I would be 93 and I might still be around but without a home. This may happen to many of us as our life spans get longer.

If I live in the condo until the lease expires, I will still need to pay maintenance and repair costs in my old age.

It is already happening now: Old neighbours are moving out, and I can see many new faces.

In time to come, if there is no en bloc sale, I will be living alone with people I do not know, waiting to see the condo value approach zero.