SINGAPORE — A picture of a very small room for rent near Admiralty MRT went viral as it was advertised for three men to share with no cooking allowed for the price of $400 each. If the tenants want to cook, the monthly rent goes up by $50.
“State of the rental market. Also is this even legal?” wrote u/Mydral on r/Singapore on Tuesday (Feb 14).
The room that is supposed to be only for three adult males has two beds; a single mattress on the upper deck and a double mattress on the lower one, which may imply that two of the tenants will have to share a bed.
Apart from the double-deck bed, the only other furniture in the room is a large open shelf, which appears to be made of metal.
There are also three electric fans in the room, suggesting that there may be three previous tenants.
The ad reads, “Looking for 3 males to share common room. Its near admiralty mrt with lots of facilities. $400 per pax without cooking. $450 with cooking. Wifi and heater included. Can shift in 26th Feb 2023.”
The ad left a lot of Reddit users with many questions.
“So two strangers have to share a bed? 🤔,” wondered one.
A smart aleck answered this, however, with “They’re not strangers after the first night 👀.”
“We(‘re) hong kong now boys,” commented another, in reference to that city’s crowded apartments.
“Got max no of tenants in HDB one,” observed one Reddit user.
“How many tenants? I want to complain my neighbour already. Looks like rented to 2 families. Even got 2 maids,” chimed in another.
A commenter raised another issue which he called an “absolute abuse of the purpose of HDBs.”
The post owner later clarified his point in a comment, writing, “Alright I’ll comment since some people do not seem to see what’s wrong with this: At full-occupancy this room will fetch between 1.2k – 1.35k.
You can get a common room in admiralty of that size for less than 1k, around 800$ (quick Google search) as far as I can tell. Nicer ones go for like 1-1.1k
The landlord or whoever is renting this out is trying to get above market rate rent while providing a crap living environment. 2 guys to 1 double bed… Common.
What a parasite.
If you want to be respectful do a normal bunk bed and 400$ each or allow couples or something to split the rent.”
Here’s a quick FYI. If you’re renting out your HDB flat, only four people are allowed in one and two-room units, and only six people are allowed in three and four-room units. /TISG