HDB comes down on about 800 flat owners for flouting lease rules from 2019 to 2023

The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has taken action against about 800 flat owners for lease infringements between 2019 and 2023. Some had failed, for example, to follow the conditions of the Minimum Occupation Period (MOP); others broke the rules on the renting out of their flats.

Of the 800 cases, about 400 were issued written warnings; another 330 were fined up to S$50,000, HDB said on Wednesday (Jul 24). In the remaining 70 or so cases involving severe infringements, HDB compulsorily acquired the flats.

HDB’s announcement follows last month’s report by CNA about more than 15 listings on Airbnb offering two and three-night stays in condominium units and HDB flats.

Such listings are illegal because the minimum stay for those seeking to rent private residential properties is three months; for public housing flats, the minimum stay is six months.

HDB said it takes a serious view of the infringement of HDB rules and regulations, and would not hesitate to take action against errant flat owners.

In one case of compulsory acquisition, a couple were caught leaving their flat unoccupied from the day they collected the keys, having chosen instead to live in a landed property belonging to the wife’s parents.

HDB received feedback from the public that the flat had been put up for sale online, with photographs in the advertisement showing a bare unit.

Another couple’s HDB flat was acquired after the husband and his father jointly purchased in 2020 a private property to be held in trust for the couple’s son.

This was during the five-year MOP for the executive apartment the couple bought from the resale market in 2017. After the private property had been bought, HDB suggested to Mr S that he relinquish the trusteeship and transfer ownership of the property to his father, or sell the property. 

HDB said: “However, Mr S informed HDB that he was not keen on either option, and took no further steps to regularise the infringement, despite repeated reminders from HDB to do so.”

To detect potential infringements of HDB rules and regulations, HDB conducts routine inspections on units and investigates suspected cases based on feedback from members of the public and property agents.

Between 2019 and 2023, HDB carried out 29,000 routine checks for lease infringements, or about 500 inspections every month, it said.

Over the same period, it also looked into another 4,400 suspected cases of lease infringements based on feedback received. 

Owners are required to physically occupy their flat during the MOP before they are allowed to sell their flat on the open market, or rent out the whole flat.

Flat owners, their spouse and occupiers are also barred from acquiring interest in local or overseas private residential properties during the MOP. 

“The MOP policy safeguards HDB flats for households with genuine housing needs,” HDB said.  

It added: “This is to ensure that affordable public housing remains accessible to genuine homebuyers who intend to live in it. It also helps to encourage stability and deter the speculative purchase of HDB flats by preventing immediate resale or rental of newly acquired flats.” 

Flat owners who are unable to occupy their flats during the MOP – such as if they are posted overseas for work – need to get in touch with HDB to seek a waiver of this requirement. HDB assesses such appeals on a case-by-case basis, it said. 

HDB also reminded owners that if they rent out bedrooms in their flat, they must continue to live there throughout the rental period. Locking up a room and renting out the rest of the flat, without the owners physically staying there, will be treated as a case of a whole-flat rental instead of a bedroom rental, HDB said. 

Owners renting out their flats should also adhere to the prevailing occupancy cap. Currently, up to four unrelated persons are allowed in one- and two-room flats, and six unrelated persons are allowed in three-room flats. For four-room and larger flats, the occupancy cap is eight unrelated persons. 

“Flat owners who flout the rules or cause disamenities to the public may have their approval for rental revoked,” HDB said. 

HDB also reminded flat owners to ensure that their prospective tenants meet eligibility conditions to rent the flat or bedrooms from them. Tourists, for example, are not allowed to rent HDB flats or bedrooms for short-term stay, because the minimum rental period is six months, HDB said. 

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