A 72-year-old Singaporean man, Tan Hock Keng (“Tan”), has been convicted of three counts of converting private residential properties to unauthorised dormitory accommodation, which is an offence under the Planning Act. On 30 May 2024, he was sentenced to a total fine of $600,000, with the maximum fine of $200,000 imposed for each of the three charges. Eight additional charges, relating to similar offences at other private residential properties, were taken into consideration for the purposes of sentencing.

Case details

2. The Urban Redevelopment Authority’s (URA) regulations stipulate that private residential properties can only house up to six unrelated persons. This is to safeguard the character of residential areas and minimise dis-amenities to neighbouring residents.

3. Enforcement officers from the Ministry of Manpower (MOM) had inspected private residential properties linked to Tan and found that the number of occupants residing at the properties had significantly exceeded URA’s occupancy cap rules.

4. Following up from inspections by MOM enforcement officers on 15 December 2017 and 13 March 2018, URA’s investigations revealed that 15 foreign workers had resided at 1012B Upper Serangoon Road. Another 16 and 17 foreign workers were found residing in 32H Lorong 22 Geylang and 32J Lorong 22 Geylang respectively. URA’s investigations revealed that Tan had been providing dormitory accommodation at these premises for around two years.

5. Further investigations revealed that Tan had also converted eight other private residential properties to dormitory accommodation between 2016 to 2018, where each unit was found with more than six unrelated occupants at each time, ranging from seven to 23.

6. During investigations, Tan admitted that he was aware of the regulations but decided to proceed with the unauthorised conversion of the premises to dormitory accommodation anyway. Given the circumstances of the case and severity of the infringements, URA charged Tan in court in November 2021 with the offences.

Advisory by URA

7. Under URA’s regulations, private residential properties are currently subject to an occupancy cap of six unrelated persons. Private residential property owners who successfully apply to URA for a temporary relaxation of the occupancy cap can house up to eight unrelated occupants within the unit. All occupants must also fulfil a minimum stay duration of three consecutive months. Property owners should exercise due diligence to ensure that their properties are not used by their tenants for unauthorised purposes.

8. “Unauthorised dormitory accommodation not only adversely affects the residential character of the neighbourhood, but also negatively impacts the occupants, who may be from more vulnerable groups that are susceptible to exploitation. URA will continue to take strong enforcement actions against perpetrators, including property owners, tenants, agents and anyone found to have flouted URA’s regulations on the rental or subletting of private residential properties.”, added Martin Tan, Director, Development Control Group, URA.