ST : HDB started checks after getting tip-off

Mar 13, 2010

HDB started checks after getting tip-off

IT ALL started with a tip-off to the Housing Board (HDB): A four-room flat in Bukit Batok was being rented out illegally.

Further checks confirmed that the flat - bought by Mr Poh Boon Kay and his wife Khoo Kim Cheng in June 2007 - had been sublet without the HDB's prior approval to three Myanmar couples at a monthly rent of $1,900.

Mr Poh, a housing agent, and his family did not live in the flat.

They were told to evict the sub-tenants immediately on Nov 25 last year, failing which the board would take possession of the flat.

But the sub-tenants did not go.

On Dec 23, the HDB sent Mr Poh a notice to say it would take back his flat.

But Mr Poh, 61, claimed his tenants had agreed in writing to vacate the flat by the end of December.

The next day, he and his wife appealed against the HDB's move. They said they intended to sell the flat to one of the tenants, who needed to sort out his finances.

The HDB then interviewed the couple on Jan 5 this year, during which they claimed they did not know that they needed prior approval to sublet the flat.

They also claimed that they were not aware of the minimum occupation period (MOP) of three years before they were allowed to sublet the flat.

But further HDB investigations showed that Mr Poh was connected with two other cases of unauthorised subletting of flats belonging to his relatives in Bukit Batok and Telok Blangah.

The flat in Bukit Batok belonged to his aunt, aged 91, and had been sublet to Myanmar monks since July last year for a monthly rent of $1,400.

The monks used it as a meditation centre, and the rent was paid to Mr Poh, who acted as his aunt's housing agent.

The Telok Blangah flat, meanwhile, was owned by his daughter.

It had been rented out for $900 monthly since May.

Checks with neighbours confirmed that Mr Poh's daughter was not living there.

Both flats were also sublet without obtaining the HDB's prior consent, and the board said that it would be taking steps to acquire them compulsorily.

In a statement yesterday, the HDB said that the additional cases of illegal subletting by Mr Poh showed that his claims of being unaware of the HDB's rules cannot be substantiated.

'These regulations are publicly available from many sources,' it said, adding that 'there is clear evidence that Mr Poh, a housing agent by profession, has been intentionally abusing HDB flats for monetary gains'.

It concluded: 'As he has blatantly flouted HDB's rules, there are no grounds for leniency.'