Source : Straits Times - 6 Oct 2008
147 units seized from tenants who made profit from illegal sub-letting
MORE rental flat cheats are being exposed, with the number of flats seized by the Government for illegal subletting increasing five-fold this year.
New figures obtained by The Straits Times show that 147 rental flats have been recovered by the Housing Board as at end August, compared to just 28 flats recovered last year. Less than 20 flats were seized in 2005 and 2006 each.
This year’s number is set to go up further as the HDB steps up its efforts to weed out errant tenants who abuse their rental flats to make profits.
Rental flats rates currently range from $26 to $205 for a one-roomer and $44 to $275 for a two-roomer, depending on household income and other factors.
There is a long waiting list of more than 4,000 applicants for these flats, which the Government reserves for needy, low-income families that cannot afford to buy a home or pay market rental rates.
What rental cheats do is sublet these rental flats at market rates instead of staying in them. Many flats are being sub-let for about $1,000 a month, netting their original tenants handsome profits.
The Straits Times had reported in May a surge in the number of such tenants illegally sub-letting rental flats to cash in on the demand for low-priced housing.
Demand has spiked on the back of last year’s property boom, which has upped rentals islandwide, and an influx of foreign workers looking for cheap accommodation.
Anecdotal evidence, based on interviews with residents, shows that in some estates, as many as one in five rental flats were illegally rented out, often to foreign workers or students from Malaysia, China and India.
‘It’s great that HDB is discovering more of such cases,’ said MP for Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC, Mr Teo Ser Luck.
‘These units shouldn’t be used for profit and denied to a citizen who is really in need,’ he said.
The HDB has stepped up its enforcement blitzes, extending its net to more areas across the country. This was partly in response to a call-for-action by MPs, residents of rental blocks and genuinely needy Singaporeans who have been left waiting in the queue.
‘I fully support HDB’s enforcement actions. Rental flats shouldn’t be used as a money-making machine,’ said North West District Mayor Dr Teo Ho Pin, who is also MP for Bukit Panjang.
HDB said the increased awareness of such abuse this year has helped in its enforcement, with more residents calling its hotline. Of the 147 units recovered, 31 units - or 21 per cent - could be traced to feedback from residents.
The increase in such cases comes at a time when local demand for rental flats have escalated - a ‘worrying trend’ singled out by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Rally speech.
The number of people seeking such flats has ‘tripled’ in just a year, he said. There are about 4,387 in the waiting list as at June, with a waiting time of nine to 18 months. In 2006, the wait was just two to six months.
HDB has since said it will ramp up its current stock of rental flats from 42,800 to 49,860 by end-2011. Tenants illegally renting out their home can lose the flat and face a five-year ban from renting or buying HDB property.
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