Singaporean fined record $600,000 for unauthorised dormitory accomodation
URA laws stipulate that private houses can only house as much as six not related persons.
Acting on the MOM inspections, that took place in December 2017 and March 2018, URA’s inspections disclosed that 15 foreign people were staying in 1012B Upper Serangoon Roadway. An additional 16 and 17 overseas employees were found to be living in 32H Lorong 22 Geylang and 32J Lorong 22 Geylang, respectively.
He adds: “URA is going to remain to use strong enforcement acts in opposition to criminals, including property owners, tenants, agents and anybody discovered to have flouted URA’s policies on the rental or subletting of personal properties”.
Enforcement policemans from the Ministry of Manpower had inspected private houses connected to Tan and discovered that the range of tenants staying there had significantly gone beyond URA’s tenancy cap rules.
“Unauthorised residence hall housing not just detrimentally affects the housing character of the neighbourhood, yet also negatively impacts the residents, who might be from more at risk group of people that are at risk to profiteering,” says Martin Tan, supervisor, Development Control Group, URA.
URA states that Tan admitted that he was aware of the tenancy guidelines but decided to wage the unauthorised transformation of the facilities anyway.
According to a URA press release on June 14, a 72-year-old Singaporean male, Tan Hock Keng, was founded guilty of 3 counts of switching personal homes to illegal dorm room accommodation. On May 30, he was penalized a report $600,000, with the optimum fine of $200,000 inflicted for every charge.
Further investigations uncovered the reality that Tan had indeed been offering dormitory lodging at those properties for approximately two years, which he had actually changed eight other private houses to unauthorised dorm rental between 2016 to 2018. The quantity of occupants in each unit reached from 7 to 23.
