SINGAPORE: The courts have rejected a woman’s lawsuit against the Housing Development Board (HDB) for evicting her from her house following years of delinquent payments.
The woman, Jasmine Gowrimani Daniel, has been accused of defaulting on mortgage payments totalling at least $106,000 to the HDB over many years. After multiple unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue, the HDB issued an eviction order and forcibly repossessed her house.
However, Ms Daniel sought legal recourse, applying to the courts to quash the eviction order and extend the deadline for handing over an empty house. The court rejected her application on Friday (3 Nov).
Ms Daniel bought the HDB flat on April 1, 2001, by partially relying on an HDB loan. Initially, between 2003 and 2005, she successfully applied for a six-month deferment of her monthly mortgage payments twice and secured temporary reductions for six months on two occasions.
However, her financial situation took a turn for the worse, leading to her failure to meet her mortgage obligations. The HDB responded by issuing a notice of compulsory repossession of her flat on Sept 29, 2009. Ms Daniel countered with a letter of objection, citing personal difficulties.
The HDB offered her options, including selling the house or paying a monthly mortgage of $1,200, but no agreement was reached. The HDB issued another notice on June 27, 2017, by which time Ms Daniel owed the authority $72,024 in mortgage payments, equivalent to six years and two months of payments.
Ms Daniel then appealed to the Ministry of National Development (MND), alleging that the HDB was making things difficult for her, and requested mediation. However, the two parties could not come to a consensus. MND dismissed her appeal on January 17, 2020, and gave her six months to sell the house in the open market.
An extension was granted to allow her to sell her house before Oct 17, 2020. But she sent a letter to the HDB on the same day expressing her intent to redeem the house, followed by a series of emails disputing the mortgage amount.
Finally, on October 27, 2021, the HDB arranged for unit recovery, offering Ms Daniel a one-bedroom rental flat. On the day of the repossession, she did not remove her personal belongings from the unit, leading the HDB to inform her that they needed to be collected by November 10, 2023. This prompted her to apply to the court.
In court, the judge determined that Ms Daniel’s application was a request for judicial review of the HDB’s decision, and thus, the court had no jurisdiction over the matter. Her application was rejected, and she was required to bear the legal costs. The judge also criticized her actions as unreasonable and abusing the legal process.
Ms Daniel plans to appeal the judge’s decision. In the meantime, the HDB has agreed to retain her flat as is, refraining from disposing of her belongings until her appeal is resolved.