Commentary: Condo en bloc rules are changing, and neighbours will feel it first

There are other differences. An HDB flat carries no share value, so consent would be counted differently. The Ministry of National Development (MND) has also said VERS should not create a “lottery effect” and payouts will be lower than under the Selective En bloc Redevelopment Scheme because flats offered VERS will have shorter remaining leases.

The government also holds one advantage no sale committee has. It can prepare replacement housing in advance and has said it will. That matters more than it sounds because a sale committee asks an owner for more than a price. It asks owners to trade a known home for a sum of money and a hope. The ones who say no most often cannot picture the other side of the move.

For all those differences, the similarity lies in what happens between neighbours. In his reply to MPs, Mr Tong said the issue of VERS goes beyond the scope of the Bill, but accepted there are learning points between the public and private markets and said his ministry would share its experience of the collective sale regime with MND.

As the rules are developed, the experience of private residential en bloc sales can offer a useful lesson. There is a need to support renewal efforts of ageing estates, but the process of seeking consensus and reaching a collective decision without dividing a community also matters.

Gabriel Kor is Associate Professor and Deputy Head (Academic) at the Department of the Built Environment, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore (NUS). The opinions expressed are those of the writer and do not represent the views and opinions of NUS.