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Ministry of National Development Minster Lawrence Wong/Youtube screengrab
Singapore News
2 min.Read

Singapore parents who got kicked out of house they gave to their son have 3 options to fight back – Wong

Miren Gonzalez
By Miren Gonzalez

Nee Soon GRC MP Lee Bee Wah recounted an incident on Facebook in July about some of her residents, an elderly couple who had generously given – sold without payment – their flat to their grown son but received terrible treatment in return. To their shock, their son drove them out of their house, saying he needed the space for his upcoming baby and the confinement lady instead. According to the couple, he would not even let them sleep in the hall. Ministry of National Development Minister Lawrence Wong says the parents have three options of recourse.

Lee, who hosts “Meet the People Sessions” with her residents every Monday evening, was approached by the couple during one session. After listening to the elderly parents’ story, she told the couple that their best best was to file for a Maintenance Order to get financial support from their son, though she agreed that parents may be apprehensive about going to court against their own family, especially a child.

On October 2, Ang Mo Kio MP Intan Azura Mokhtar asked the Ministry of National Development if they had dealt with similar cases in the past – where elderly parents had been kicked out of their adult children’s homes, even if the parents sold their own flats to help their children buy homes in the first place.

Minister Lawrence Wong responded to this, saying that while the Housing and Development Board does not have exact data on this, there are ways for aggrieved parents such as themselves to remedy their situation.

Wong advised that they try family mediation from professionals such as Family Service Centres or the Office of the Commissioner for the Maintenance of Parents.

Though lacking the exact numbers for cases like this one, the Commissioner’s website reflects that all cases with the Commissioner have been decreasing over the past three years.

In 2017, the number of cases referred to the Commissioner was 176, having gone down from 216 in 2016, which decreased from 221 in 2015.

Encouragingly, there was a 90 percent success rate of the cases having reached settlements through mediation and reconciliation. Mediation, if both parties prove to be amicable, would be the easiest and least painful course of action.

Wong’s second suggestion for recourse, if mediation is not effective, is to submit an application for maintenance at the Tribunal for the Maintenance of Parents, a legal channel for parents to seek financial assistance from their children.

If that still does not work, Wong says that the elderly folks still can seek help from HDB, who can help allocate a home to them if they are out of options.

“For elderly parents who are unable to obtain support from their children, HDB looks into their individual circumstances and will allocate a rental flat to those who have no other housing option.”

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