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Is renting out your apartment or room on Airbnb illegal in Singapore? From stylish apartments to cheerful single rooms, tourists in search of alternative lodgings in Singapore are spoilt for choice.
The website of Airbnb, a leading player in the home-sharing market here, has options such as a Kallang studio for $200 a night, a serviced apartment room in Somerset for $129 per night, and several other listings by boutique hotels for approximately $180 to $200 per night.
In the past, other home-sharing websites have attempted set up here as well, such as PandaBed (2012, ceased) and Roomorama (shuttered 2017) but have since ceased operations.
Content
- Airbnb legal or illegal in Singapore?
- Short term rentals: From $5,000 fine
- Airbnb in Sembawang Terrace House Clamped Down (2017)
- Leedon Heights Airbnb owners charged (2017)
- Airbnb travelers may threaten safety & facilities
- Hotel & tourism standards may be affected
Is Airbnb illegal in Singapore? Yes
Yes, it is currently illegal for private and public home-owners to lease their properties for short term rentals less than three months.
While a few home-sharing site listings are for long-term options, most are for short stays, which means they are breaking the law.
From January to April 2015, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) held a public consultation to assess if this short-term rental policy for private properties needed to be reviewed. But on 18 May 2016, more than a year on, the URA said it needs more time to consider the issue.
Short Term Rental Singapore: $5,000 Fine
Under current rules, private home-owners who lease their units for short term, less than three months can be fine. According to the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA):
"Under the Planning Act, any individual found guilty of engaging in short-term accommodation will minimally face a fine of up to $5,000. Those who are recalcitrant or engage in short-term accommodation at multiple properties will be taken to Court. To date, many such individuals have been charged in Court, resulting in the imposition of significantly heavier fines."
If you suspect your neighbour is leasing out their property illegally short-term, you can report such activities to the URA online.
Airbnb in Sembawang Clamped Down by URA (2017)
Angry residents lodged a petition for authorities to take action against a homeowner believed to be renting out her home on popular accomodation site Airbnb. The house in question was a four-storey corner terraced house, located at Penaga Place in Sembawang. The house was also simultaneously listed on home-sharing websites Airbnb and Homeaway.
Lianhe Wanbao reported that neighbour Madam Wendy Ng, 59, who lives in the house next door, said that she found the noise and large number of comings and goings by strangers difficult to bear.
Neighbour never seemed to sleep
Madam Ng, who moved into the area in 2013, said she initially found it strange that the house next to hers never seemed to sleep, with noises emanating from it even late at night.
"I did not know what was going on at first. It was only later when I noticed that there were people whom I had never seen in the area before that I realised the house was being used as a short-term rental provider," she told Lianhe Wanbao.
According to Lianhe Wanbao, two Filipino tenants immediately packed their bags and left the house after the inspection. One Filipino girl said that the pair had rented a room in the house for one week via Airbnb for $60 a night.
Neighbour lodged complaint with URA
Earlier on, Madam Ng had lodged a complaint with URA. The authorities then tried to inspect her neighbour's premises, but no one was at home.
The next day, however, she received a note from the owner of the property, who claimed that there were no short-term rentals there, and that all tenants had taken leases of at least six months. The owner also claimed that Madam Ng had been reported to the police for harassment.
But noticing that there were still many strangers staying at the house next door in the past few months, Madam Ng decided to start a petition, getting 37 signatures in two days.
Previously, she had even employed a private investigator to gather photographic and videographic evidence of what went on inside the property by pretending to be a tenant at the house for a week.
Authorities raided Sembawang Airbnb
On July 8 2017, the authorities took action by conducting a spot check on the premises. During the 40-minute raid, they took down the details of tenants who happened to be renting the property for the night.
According to Lianhe Wanbao, two Filipino tenants immediately packed their bags and left the house after the inspection. One Filipino girl said that the pair had rented a room in the house for one week via Airbnb for $60 a night.
"It was only when the enforcement officers came in that we realised that the house may be violating the law. The home's owner is not around, and we did not want to be involved in any trouble, so we decided to move to a hotel," she told Lianhe Wanbao.
A check on the Airbnb website revealed that the owner of the house at Penaga Place house is Dione Schick, a New Zealand national who has been living in Singapore for 11 years then, and had taken up Singapore citizenship. On her profile, she wrote that she and her husband, William, are "offsite during the week and only at the property sometimes during the weekends to tend to the garden".
When asked about the concerns of the neighbours, Ms Shick said that they were only looking for long-term rentals, and added that she felt that Madam Ng's actions had not been civil.
Leedon Heights Airbnb Charged for Illegal Home-Sharing
Two men were charged on Dec 5 2017 with providing unauthorised short-term stays to tenants. This is the first use of new regulations against home-sharing since they kicked in on May 15 2017.
Terence Tan En Wei, then 35, and Yao Songliang, 34, face four charges each for renting out their private property to others for under six months. Later, in June 2017, the short-term rental minimum was revised from six to three months by the URA.
The Straits Times understands that the men had used popular home-sharing service Airbnb. According to court documents, both men had allegedly worked together to rent out four units at Leedon Heights condominium to others for the short term without permission from the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA).
Under the Planning Act, owners who carry out or allow the development of any area, without approval from the Government, are liable to be fined up to $200,000. Repeat offenders face jail time of up to a year, on top of the $200,000 fine. Those convicted of the offence, but still continue to rent the unit out to others, can be fined up to $10,000 per day.
Owners of Housing Board flats are also liable to fines and getting their units repossessed.
Airbnb Travellers May Affect Living Environment
For HDB flats, there is no plan to review the short-term stay rules, which aim "to pre-empt high turnover of occupants, which could affect the living environment for HDB residents", said the HDB in 2016.
Such disruption is also why some private property residents object to short-term rentals. "Some Airbnb users throw their cigarette butts and cause a lot of inconvenience," said housewife Ruth Tiang, 57.
Strangers may threaten children's safety
Residents are also worried about safety in general. When dental assistant Rodelita C. Leng's family members travel, they use Airbnb. Yet, the 38-year-old resident of Vacanza@East in Kembangan would not like the same to happen here. "If my neighbours register their units under Airbnb, anyone can just go in and out. This is not safe and secure for my two young children," she said.
Condominium facilities may be treated badly
Those who list their condominium properties on home-sharing sites often offer the use of facilities such as gyms. Businessman Kenny Tan, 47, said guests are sometimes not as careful as residents. He said: "We pay a premium for the security and the facilities. The treatment of common facilities by transient tourists will inevitably be worse than the owners'."
In 2013, 2014 and 2015, the URA received 231, 375 and 377 complaints on short-term stays respectively.
Hotel & Tourism Standards May Be Affected by Airbnb
The hospitality industry is another stakeholder whose views have been sought by URA.
The Singapore Hotel Association (SHA), for one, supports the status quo. Private home-owners could become competition for both hotels and serviced apartments, said SHA executive director Margaret Heng in 2016. Equally critical to the tourism industry in Singapore is how do we ensure safety, security and hygiene standards in private outfits" which are unregulated, she added.
This need to uphold tourism standards was echoed by hotels.
Said Royal Plaza on Scotts general manager Patrick Fiat: "Home-shares are inconsistent in service delivery and cleanliness standards, which will have an impact on the image of Singapore as a travel destination in the long run."
The former Regent Singapore's director of marketing Jeff Crowe: "All of us benefit directly or indirectly from Singapore's reputation as a safe destination... Hopefully, (any) upcoming legislation will ensure new entrants are held to the same high standards required of the established hospitality operators."
Part of this article first appeared on The Straits Times in 2016, AsiaOne in 2017.