HDB flats are primarily meant for owner occupation. Those who wish to sublet their flats must meet the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP) and obtain HDB’s approval before they can do so. This rule applies to both Singapore Citizens (SCs) and Singapore Permanent Residents (SPRs). In 2011, HDB carried out 7,000 flat inspections and took action against 56 flat owners for unauthorised subletting. Of these, HDB...
Subletting
IN A clear warning to those who sublet their flats illegally, the Housing Board (HDB) has moved to take back three apartments linked to a real estate agent who owns five private properties. One flat to be repossessed belongs to the real estate agent, Mr Poh Boon Kay, 61, and his wife, Madam Khoo Kim Cheng, 52, who had illegally sublet their four-room flat in Bukit Batok. The other two flats in Telok...
The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has taken action against 56 flat owners for illegal sub-letting between January 2008 and December last year. Most were fined between S$1,000 and S$21,000. One owner had his flat repossessed for blatantly flouting HDB's sub-letting rules. Giving details of the case, HDB said it first received feedback on the unauthorised sub-letting of a unit in Block 336 Bukit...
Some were in financial hardship, and an increasing number were Singaporeans working overseas or who simply saw their flats as investments. They made up the growing number of households that are sub-letting their entire flats – a figure that jumped 21 per cent in the course of the last financial year. Between April last year and March this year, the Housing and Development Board (HDB) approved 22,754...
CALL it a combination of financial need or greed, and exploding demand: As of last month, 21,000 flats had been rented out by Singaporeans, a near 60-per-cent spike from the 13,200 units just 17 months ago. Coming as it does three years after subletting rules were relaxed, Housing and Development Board chief executive Tay Kim Poh attributes this recent surge to changing market dynamics. "Rentals for...