Daily Lessons from Life 16 January 2014 - HDB sets quota on subletting of whole flats to non-Singaporeans

"HDB sets quota on subletting of whole flats to non-Singaporeans - CNA 16 January 2014

SINGAPORE: The Housing and Development Board (HDB) has introduced a quota on subletting of whole flats to non-citizen subtenants.

It said the move is to prevent the formation of foreigner enclaves in estates and maintain the Singaporean character of the heartlands.

HDB flat owners who lease out whole units to foreigners will be bound by the new rule, with immediate effect. The quota on subletting of whole units to non-citizen subtenants applies to all foreigners, except Malaysians. It is set at 8 per cent per neighbourhood and at 11 per cent per block.

Owners who wish to lease their units must make sure the quotas for both are not exceeded.

HDB said some towns are already seeing more foreigners renting whole units. These include the Central area, Clementi, Jurong West, Queenstown and Sengkang. HDB said the new policy will apply to all flat subletting applications.

Owners currently subletting their whole flat with HDB's approval may continue to do so for the remaining approved duration.

However, if the remaining duration is more than one-and-a-half years, it will be reduced to one-and-a-half years from the date of inclusion.

The maximum period of subletting will be three years for Singaporeans and Malaysians, and one-and-a-half years for non-citizens. HDB said Malaysians are excluded as they "better integrate into our estates due to their cultural and historical similarities with Singaporeans"."

Another 'after-thought' step taken by HDB and the government. A reaction rather than anticipation!

Lessons for me are:

1. a contradiction created by the government of having MORE FWs and FTs to 'fuel' our GDP growth WHILE providing rental income to the elderly HDB owners when they rent out their flats to these FWs or FTs. Trouble is, some of the HDB owners bought from the HDB resale markets are PRs who have NO QUALMS about renting out to their fellow 'home country comrades' to make money out of the 'cheap' resale HDB flats!;

2. the glaring thing about ALL the actions, or re-actions, adopted by the HDB in the last 2 years are concerning as this government used to be able to 'anticipate' and 'pro-actively' handle issues before the WHOLE population of ordinary Singaporeans know about it except the government. Of course, the WHOLE population is an exaggeration! e.g. massive inflow of FWs but NOT enough dormitories to house them!;

3. not enough enforcement on making sure that some of the 'smart' and 'risk taking' new PRs who rent out their newly bought HDB resale flats are 'sleepless' about being caught and suffer the worst punishment of getting their flats confiscated by HDB! They also fail to 'understand' that some of these new PRs probably come from a home country where 'flouting and taking advantage of not-observing the laws, assuming there are laws' is considered ingenuity and commendable behaviours. The same case for the recent spate of civil servants being caught taking brides as the 'bride givers' are more than in the past and many are foreigners too!

If there is any good that come of this action is that FINALLY the government is SEEING the problems already KNOWN to many Singaporeans and taking actions! There is HOPE! :-)