If you think you can still illegally sublet your flat by locking up a room and pretending you live there, then you are sorely mistaken. 95 such flat owners have been found out last year. Of these, 39 owners had their units taken away on the spot for blatantly infringing subletting rules.
(Who lives in a house like this? Illegal subletters can face fines or even losing their units. Image courtesy of the Singapore Tourism Board.)
One of them was the owner of a Pinnacle@Duxton flat, who had just received his keys before letting out his entire flat. Owners must live in their flats for five years before renting the whole unit out.
The remaining 56 owners were slapped with fines from $2,500 to over $22,000 – the Housing Development Board’s (HDB) sternest warning in recent years. HDB has been more than doubling its efforts to uncover these offenders. It said in a statement that there might not even be a warning letter to give second chances. It warned that locking up one room to sublet the entire flat is considered unauthorised subletting of a flat, and owners will be penalised accordingly.
The 95 offenders were up from the 28 that HDB took action against in 2009. Then, only two faced acquisition while the others faced fines or warnings. The board increased its number of checks from 3,000 in 2009 to 7,000 last year – about 1,800 of which were conducted in response to tip-offs from disgruntled neighbours, nearly double the number in 2009.
It has a hotline (1800-555 6370) the public can dial to report suspected infringements, where feedback will be kept confidential.
People who commit this offence include new flat owners who have yet to fulfil the 5-year minimum occupation period but needed the money and private property owners who view their HDB resale flats as investments with good yield, say experts. Before new rules came to effect last August, private property owners were allowed to buy HDB resale flats and live in it for just a year before they can rent it out. This had sparked concerns that they were abusing the system. Last year, the number of private property owners with resale flats was one in 10.
Industry insiders say that since the Council of Estate Agencies (CEA) was set up to regulate property agents, agents no longer dare to advise clients with ways to get around rules, in fear of losing their practicing licenses.
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Related Categories: Leasing Your Property
Tags: Council of Estate Agencies, HDB flats, HDB resale flats, Housing Development Board, illegal subletting, Pinnacle@Duxton, property agents in Singapore , rent a room, rent hdb, rent property, rental property, room rental, subletting whole units
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