Singaporean fined record $600,000 for unauthorised dormitory accomodation

According to a URA press release on June 14, a 72-year-old Singaporean man, Tan Hock Keng, was convicted of 3 counts of converting exclusive residential properties to unauthorised dorm room rental. On May 30, he was penalized a report $600,000, with the maximum damages of $200,000 enforced for every charge.

URA guidelines specify that private houses can just house up to 6 not related persons.

Further investigations unearthed the truth that Tan had been offering dormitory rental at those premises for about two years, and that he had actually converted 8 other private homes to unauthorised dorm rental in between 2016 to 2018. The amount of dwellers in each unit reached from seven to 23.

URA states that Tan admitted that he understood the occupancy policies yet chose to proceed with the illegal conversion of the properties anyway.

Following up on the MOM examinations, that occurred in December 2017 and March 2018, URA’s searches exposed that 15 overseas workers were staying in 1012B Upper Serangoon Roadway. Another 16 and 17 international employees were identified to be residing in 32H Lorong 22 Geylang and 32J Lorong 22 Geylang, respectively.

Watten House Singapore

Enforcement officers from the Ministry of Manpower had checked exclusive houses linked to Tan and found that the many occupants living there had actually drastically gone beyond URA’s occupancy cap regulations.

He adds: “URA will continue to get strong enforcement acts against criminals, including land owner, occupants, representatives and anyone identified to have flouted URA’s policies on the leasing or subletting of private properties”.

“Unauthorised residence hall accommodation not only adversely affects the housing character of the area, yet also negatively influences the residents, that might be from even more vulnerable groups that are at risk to profiteering,” states Martin Tan, head, Development Control Group, URA.


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