A birthday I’ll never forget — evicting 14 sub-tenants from an over-occupied HDB today. The system failed them.
Hey r/singapore. Some of you might remember me from an AMA I did a few years back. I’m a mortgage broker turned property agent. Today I’m not here to talk shop. I’m here to talk about something that broke me a little.
**I used AI to correct my grammar and structure.**
Got a call this morning. HDB had done a routine inspection on a unit I manage and found 14 people living there. Legal maximum is 6. My client depends on that rental income. Now they’re facing a warning letter, a fine, or worst case — HDB repossession. Their financial safety net, gone.
I had to go down to carry out the eviction.
The corporate tenant was a PRC-owned shell company. Renting by the bed. Six to a room. They collected deposits and monthly rent from every sub-tenant, then hid behind corporate structure the moment it unravelled. Police report made. Nothing will come of it. Civil matter. And civil matters cost money — money these sub-tenants will never have.
That’s what broke me.
Most sub-tenants were Chinese nationals. Two or three were from Myanmar. Every single one of them paid $500+ a month plus deposit. Over $1,000, gone. Some had to rush back from work mid-shift just to pack their bags. They were calm. Dignified. Understanding. Even as everything fell apart around them.
The Myanmar workers destroyed me inside. Work permit holders. Maybe earning $1,000+ a month. They just lost a full month’s wages — to someone who deliberately preyed on their need for a roof over their head.
I tried to advise them. Told them eight people at $500 each is $4,000 — enough to rent a proper 4-room flat. Or split a single room between two.
They looked at me and said: a room in town is $1,200 to $1,600. That’s too much. And how do we even find someone to share with us?
I had nothing to say.
These aren’t the foreigners people complain about online. They’re the ones making your morning kopi. Making your bubble tea. Serving your table. Manning the retail counter at 10pm. They came here knowing it’s expensive — they accepted that. They just wanted a fair shot at a better life.
Instead they got robbed. Legally. Systematically. By people who knew exactly what they were doing.
And those people? They walk away. Shell company dissolved. Probably running five other units the same way right now. The sub-tenants have no recourse. The elderly landlord couple faces HDB action. The foreign workers are on the street tonight.
The ones who suffer are always the ones who can least afford to.
**Today is my birthday. I feel, I cared, I lost.**