ST : Illegal 'showflats' in housing estates

Mar 19, 2010

Illegal 'showflats' in housing estates

By Melissa Kok

RENOVATION contractors in public housing estates have hit on a way to showcase their work and tout for new business - by turning newly renovated flats into 'showflats'.

They are putting up advertisements and notices in lifts and on the doors of their clients' flats, inviting other home owners to take a look at the paint job, new flooring or custom-built furniture.

The contractors say they do this with the consent of their clients who have not moved in yet.

The Straits Times understands that in some cases, the contractors offer the owners of such 'showflats' a discount to sweeten the prospect of having strangers tramp through their home.

It seems like win-win - potential clients get an instant visual of the finished work and the contractor may nail his next job - but the practice is illegal.

The Housing Board, tipped off by members of the public bothered by renovation touts, has issued notices to registered contractors against doing this.

Under the HDB Registered Renovation Contractors' Scheme, contractors are barred from canvassing for business in new HDB blocks and from using residential flats as showflats - on pain of a fine of up to $500 and six demerit points.

Renovation contractors who accumulate 24 points in two years will have their licences suspended for a year. Home owners who allow their flats to be used as showrooms will also be served with warnings. If they ignore the warning, they may be fined.

Renovation contractors and design consultancy firms The Straits Times spoke to said converting renovated flats into showrooms is a widespread practice.

Checks on new flats in Punggol and Sengkang on Wednesday yielded unit numbers of 'showflats' scribbled on the plywood planks protecting the lift walls in the new blocks; and cellphone numbers of contractors were on display at the entrance to three units.

Contacted, the contractors pleaded ignorance to the rules or denied using the flat as a showroom. An HDB spokesman said a registered contractor became the first to be given a warning this year for displaying a business-touting banner outside a renovated flat.

Sengkang and Punggol residents told The Straits Times they had no problems with flats being used as showrooms, except that the advertisements in the lifts were 'unsightly'.

Mr Simon Lee, executive director of the Singapore Contractors Association, said contractors should comply with the rules. 'It's not wrong to showcase a renovated flat, except that it shouldn't be used as an office place for commercial purposes,' he added.