ID & Contractor hacked away this owner's structural column!!!!

This is madness. How can the homeowner even sleep in peace sia. Looks dangerous af. The number of dubious ID and contractors these days are astonishing 😳

Translated in English below the words from this owner. More homeowners needs to know this.

The previous owner tore down a structural pillar that shouldn’t have been removed. When we bought the house, they told us they knocked down a wall in the living room and moved it back to make the bedroom bigger. But this pillar had nothing to do with that wall, and it’s clearly marked on the floor plan as a non-removable, structural pillar.

Last week, when the contractor was installing the air conditioning, he took down the false ceiling and discovered it was hollow inside. The previous owner never mentioned that they had removed this pillar. Usually, any alterations that differ from the original HDB layout need to be restored before the house can be sold. In our previous house, we had bought extra corridor space, but when we installed windows, the contractor forgot to notify HDB.

When we sold that house, HDB required us to restore the windows and the adjoining wall before completing the handover.

As for the pillar in this case, our contractor documented everything to prove he wasn’t the one who removed it. I immediately informed the real estate agent, who said the previous owner had reported the changes to HDB, and that HDB had approved it for demolition.

However, my husband wasn’t convinced and decided to check with HDB. Two days later, HDB sent someone to inspect the house, and we received a warning letter. That’s when we learned that the previous owner never reported it to HDB, and the pillar should never have been removed. Now, as the current owners, we’ve been asked to restore it immediately.

Forget the money for a moment—this is just frustrating. Isn’t HDB supposed to inspect the house before it’s sold? How did they miss this? What was the previous owner trying to do that they felt the need to tear down this pillar in the first place?

Are these contractors even licensed? This seems like such a novice mistake to make. Even noob homeowners like me can tell which are the structural columns on a HDB floor plan

OMG i followed up on the OP post in XHS. Seemed like they had to engage their own PE (Professional Engineer) to evaluate the damage, and it cost them $800 out of pocket! And that is even before any restoration costs being quoted, which based on HDB its definitely have to be rectified. Unqualified IDs and contractors can continue to haunt homeowners for years to come even after renovation is done!!!