Hi,
Recently a notice board has been set up in front of my house (in Singapore). Pasted on the board is the notice, signed by the Ministry of Transport, which states that at end October 06 the back-lanes/backyards of several houses (including mine) nearby will vest in the Government, in accordance to section 30(2) of the Street Work Act. No further details were revealed on what the backyards will be used for, but it is stated that public can inspect the plan at the Land & Transport Authority (LTA) office. My neighbour was shown the drawing plan when he visited LTA some days back, but there was no revelation when he asked on what the backyards will be used for.
Most of the affected house-owners have owned their houses, which exclude the backyards, for more than 10 years. Particularly, my family has owned and stayed here for close to 40 years. The backyards had/have been utilised by us for planting trees, gardening, drying/sunning our cloths, car-parking, etc. They have been flattened off (ie. no more trees) since a few years back during the neighbouring construction work (building private house). Many years back, my neighbour called the land authority to request for face-lifting the backyards but the reply was that the government is not responsible for the maintenance as they are not government-owned, and we should maintain it on our own. I was also told that there was a law, abolished in 1994, stating that if a person occupies a land that he does not own for more than 12 years without challenge, he has the right to continue using that land. I'm not sure how these would affect our current right in using the backyards, considering that they have been occupied for our usage for more than 12 years before 1994. Can anyone advise what we should do? Thank You.
Recently a notice board has been set up in front of my house (in Singapore). Pasted on the board is the notice, signed by the Ministry of Transport, which states that at end October 06 the back-lanes/backyards of several houses (including mine) nearby will vest in the Government, in accordance to section 30(2) of the Street Work Act. No further details were revealed on what the backyards will be used for, but it is stated that public can inspect the plan at the Land & Transport Authority (LTA) office. My neighbour was shown the drawing plan when he visited LTA some days back, but there was no revelation when he asked on what the backyards will be used for.
Most of the affected house-owners have owned their houses, which exclude the backyards, for more than 10 years. Particularly, my family has owned and stayed here for close to 40 years. The backyards had/have been utilised by us for planting trees, gardening, drying/sunning our cloths, car-parking, etc. They have been flattened off (ie. no more trees) since a few years back during the neighbouring construction work (building private house). Many years back, my neighbour called the land authority to request for face-lifting the backyards but the reply was that the government is not responsible for the maintenance as they are not government-owned, and we should maintain it on our own. I was also told that there was a law, abolished in 1994, stating that if a person occupies a land that he does not own for more than 12 years without challenge, he has the right to continue using that land. I'm not sure how these would affect our current right in using the backyards, considering that they have been occupied for our usage for more than 12 years before 1994. Can anyone advise what we should do? Thank You.
