“A morgue would be better”

SINGAPORE – Would you pay $600 a month to rent a cramped room equipped with only a fan, a small desk and a storage rack?

A Singaporean landlord thought there might be interested parties and posted an ad for the rooms on his personal Facebook page a few days ago. From the photo and details shared, the rooms appeared to be a laundry room in a Toa Payoh Central apartment.

According to The Straits Times, the ad was shared on the Singapore Islandwide Room Rental Facebook group on Wednesday (Feb 21) and has garnered more than 2,000 reactions. Many netizens criticised the owner for offering a room that they compared to a morgue.

One netizen joked that a morgue would be better than the room shown, because there is air conditioning in a morgue.

The ad was deleted by the original author

According to the Housing Development Board (HDB) website, it is illegal to rent out utility rooms, as “only rooms originally built by the HDB can be rented out”. All other parts of the flat cannot be used as rooms for tenants.

The owner eventually removed the room image from his post. However, netizens added the images back via the comments section of the post.

One user wrote in the comments: “People come here to work, not to live in a morgue. Why not live here first and see what it’s like before renting it?”

As of 5pm on Friday, the original ad was deleted.

Unauthorized rental of apartments

In a written response to parliamentary questions in July 2023, the Ministry of National Development said it had detected possible cases of unauthorized rental of apartments through a range of methods, including monitoring advertisements and tracking public comments.

“HDB takes violations of its rules and regulations seriously and will not hesitate to take enforcement action against erring landlords and tenants,” the ministry said.

The HDB may issue a written warning, impose a financial penalty of up to $50,000 or compulsorily acquire the flats from the owners, depending on the seriousness and circumstances of the offence.

Members of the public are encouraged to contact HDB at 1800-5556370 if they encounter any suspected cases of unauthorised rental or misuse of flats.

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