S.52PLAISQE: THE PROMISE THAT WAS NEVER WRITTEN DOWN

The Promise That Was Never Written Down

When Unit 1/383 was first created, the developer told Mr and Mrs Filippous — both experienced lunch‑bar operators — that their shop would be the only lunch bar in the complex.
No competition.
No future rival.
A permanent commercial advantage.

The Filippous believed it. They had no reason not to. They ran their business on that understanding.

Years later, in 1999, a young man named Paul C. K. Chin was searching for a stable future. He was ready to leave tertiary study and build something real. When he approached the Filippous, they passed on the same assurance they had received from the developer. They were not lying. They were not misleading anyone. They were repeating what they themselves had been told — and what they genuinely believed.

What none of them knew was this:

A statutory burden — recorded through Form 26 and the S.52PLAISQE mechanism — was already embedded in the strata documents.
It bound the land.
It bound every successor.
And it was never explained to anyone.

The exclusivity promise was never written into law.
The statutory burden was never explained.
And ordinary people were left to carry the consequences of a misunderstanding that began at the point of development.

This is not a story of wrongdoing by small business owners.
It is a story of systemic failure, silent burdens, and the human cost of non‑disclosure.

中文版（简体）

一个从未写进法律的承诺

当 1/383 号单位刚建成时，开发商告诉 Filippous 夫妇——两位经验丰富的午餐店经营者——他们的店将是整个商业区里唯一的午餐店。
没有竞争。
没有未来对手。
一个永久性的商业优势。

Filippous 夫妇相信了。
他们没有理由怀疑。
他们也确实按照这个理解经营了多年。

多年后，1999 年，年轻的 Paul C. K. Chin 正在寻找一个稳定的未来。他准备离开大学，开始真正的人生。当他向 Filippous 夫妇咨询时，他们把同样的承诺转述给了他。他们没有撒谎，也没有误导任何人。他们只是重复了开发商告诉他们的内容——也是他们真心相信的内容。

但他们都不知道的是：

一项法定负担——通过 Form 26 和 S.52PLAISQE 机制记录——早已隐藏在分契文件里。
它附着在土地上。
它自动约束所有后续业主。
却从未向任何人解释过。

所谓的“独家经营权”从未写进法律。
法定负担从未被解释。
而普通人却被迫承担一个源自开发阶段的误解所带来的后果。

这不是小商户的过错。
这是一个关于制度缺陷、隐形负担和信息不透明所造成的人类代价的故事。