ONE shophouse the size of a quarter of a basketball court was partitioned into nine rooms.
Each was as small as a bathroom, with a double-decker bed squeezed in. There were insufficient air-conditioners for all the rooms.
Yet, there were ready tenants. The reason: The landlord charged only $300 a month for each room.
It was one of the worst cases that Mr Mohamed Ismail, chief executive of real estate agency PropNex, has come across.
He said: ‘The shophouse is in Serangoon with good food and amenities nearby. The low rental attracted foreigners on work permits.’
Mr Ismail does not know if the URA came to know about the shophouse, but he has heard of schemes where people rent a whole apartment and make profits of as much as 100 per cent by subletting the rooms to many tenants.
He said: ‘From my experience, property owners tend to be more cautious because at the end of the day, they are responsible for removing the partitions if URA finds out.’
Last year, URA investigated 400 such cases, most of which involved illegal refurbishment of dwellings for use as workers’ dormitories.
Partitioned rooms likely illegal
This year alone, URA has investigated more than 500 such cases.
So how should potential tenants avoid getting caught in such situations?
Mr Ismail said: ‘On average, there should be room for two persons. If you see that rooms are created from partitions, it’s likely to be illegal. Some tenants are aware that partitions are illegal. But because they have a tight budget, they take the risk of eviction.’
Mr Donald Han, managing director of property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield, said partitioning is widespread in the fringes of popular areas like Orchard, Chinatown and Bukit Timah.
The practice was highlighted in June when tenants at The Grangeford in Leonie Hill were evicted from their illegally sub-divided units.
Of 140 apartments there, 600 units were carved up and partitioned.
With tenants paying about $1,000 each for a room in prime locations, landlords stand to reap huge profits.
Mr Albert Lu, managing director of C & H Realty, said: ‘The landlords may not be aware it’s illegal. To them, it’s a method to create more room to get more revenue.’
But that’s not worth the risk, said Mr Han.
Typically, such partitioning is more common in big and older apartments in the fringe of prime locations, especially properties up for en bloc sales.
Mr Han said: ‘It’s difficult to find someone to rent the whole apartment in an old development because of the ageing facilities. But there are students or people on work permits who are willing to stay in rented rooms in good locations.’
He said that for those looking to rent rooms cheaply, rentals start from $300 for rooms in the outskirts.
Source : The New paper – 20 Sep 2009
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