Property agent who overcharged tenants and pocketed over $5,000 gets fined and suspended

SINGAPORE: A property agent who pocketed thousands of dollars in rent by deceiving both a tenant and a landlord has been fined $21,000 and had his estate agent license suspended for 15 months by the Council for Estate Agencies (CEA).

According to CEA, the agent had been engaged to rent out rooms in a three-room HDB flat still under its five-year Minimum Occupation Period (MOP), during which the owner was required by law to live in the unit.

The owner had initially instructed the agent to rent out only one room, while locking up the second bedroom, and to inform prospective tenants that he would be living elsewhere temporarily.

The agent colluded in circumventing the rules. He agreed to tell tenants that if authorities came for inspections, they should claim the owner had gone overseas.

In January 2022 after the first tenant moved out, the agent secured a new tenant willing to pay $1,900 per month. He then falsely informed the owner that the agreed rent was $1,550.

To conceal the discrepancy, he instructed the tenant to pay $1,550 directly to the landlord and to transfer an additional $350 monthly to a supposed “maintenance company.”

That company account was in fact Home4u, an entity registered under the agent’s wife, over which he had full control. This arrangement allowed him to siphon off an extra $350 each month undetected.

In total, he defrauded the tenant of $5,600 in rent overpayments before the ruse unraveled.

The deception was exposed in February 2023, when the Housing and Development Board (HDB) conducted a surprise inspection and discovered the illegal subletting arrangement. After receiving notice of the inspection, the agent hastily arranged for the tenant to vacate.

When the tenant returned the keys to the landlord, the parties compared notes and discovered the agent’s scheme. Confronted, the tenant threatened to report the matter to police and to the HDB. The agent then repaid the $5,600 in overcharged rent.

Investigators later found he had also charged the tenant an additional $34 in stamp duty to reflect the falsely inflated rent amount.

The CEA charged the agent with five offences, including professional misconduct, failing to inform the landlord of regulatory requirements, and dishonestly obtaining money under false pretenses. The disciplinary committee imposed a fine of $21,000 and suspended his license for 15 months.

The Housing and Development Board has also reclaimed the flat from the owner, given the breaches of the MOP conditions.