The owner of Flor Patisserie located at Siglap Drive has made an appeal to the government to look into implementing rent control policies following a 57 per cent rent increase by their landlord.

In a series of Instagram Stories last week, Flor's owner, Heidi Tan, asked for the introduction of policies which would create " a fair playing ground for businesses and landlords".

She'd also tagged newly elected East Coast GRC MP Edwin Tong in her post.

"Right now, landlords hold overwhelming negotiating power," she continued, appealing for the government to recognise that "high rents directly impact cost of goods sold".

Flor had previously announced on April 23 that they would be closing their 13-year outlet after the landlord asked to increase their rent by 57 per cent upon renewal of their lease in July.

"Never thought our out-of-the-way, 21 mins by bus, 15 min [on foot] from the nearest MRT station, no-parking-nearby outlet could be worth $8,500 in monthly rent," wrote Heidi, noting that the amount was how much they were paying for their former East Coast outlet which had "much better frontage, with parking and accessibility".

"And even that space didn't make it with sky-rocketing food, utility, and manpower costs," she remarked.

In a subsequent post on Wednesday (May 7), Heidi reiterated the call to tackle the issue of rising rental prices.

"Sorry it's not a cake post. But this is something we feel we have to address as a small business in Singapore. We've been in business close to 16 years now, since 2010. We've had our ups and downs," she said, highlighting the manpower crisis and rising food costs.

"But rent is one thing that kills you know? We may have started with a reasonable rent, put in the capital to make the space nice, then upon renewal, a sharp increase upends everything. To move means to start over. Any profits made is channeled into the next renovation, and the cycle never ends," added Heidi, who also stated that they are "tired of this".

She emphasised, however, that they "don't need handouts" from the government.

"We just want them to create an environment that small businesses like ours can thrive."

In her post, she suggested implementing a "grace period" of up to six months in which a commercial property can be empty for, after which the landlord "will be fined 50 per cent of the asking rent every additional month that it's on the market".

Indicating that the high rental rates are a result of moves by "speculative property investors" looking to flip the units — as high rents "usually equals higher property prices" — she added that any help given by the government should not be a burden to taxpayers.

Speaking to AsiaOne, Heidi said that Tong, who's also Minister for Culture, Community and Youth and Second Minister for Law, has since reached out to her and she has spoken to his representative.

She highlighted that they are not asking the government to interfere with private contracts.

"We are asking for them to set up fair rental structures and fair tenancy agreements to level the playing field between businesses and landlords.

"Currently, it is a one-way increase by landlords, [and] small businesses like ours have no negotiating power, no recourse. We hope to change this," she said.

In a reply to a commenter, who appeared to question why landlords should be "penalised", Heidi shared that their current landlord had taken over the unit just three years ago and "has been upping the rent since".

She added that her current rental rate is at $3 per square foot, amounting to $5,400 a month. She noted that two other tenants along the same road are paying less in terms of square footage, amounting to $3,900 and $4,500 in rent.

Heidi also shared with Stacked Homes that moving to another location is not a simple decision due to sunk costs such as the upgrading of electrical power and a walk-in chiller they had built.

Other alternatives that she had explored in the area also yielded untenably high rents, with one unit at Joo Chiat going for $9,500 and another at Swan Lake Avenue listed at $6,800.

Heidi told AsiaOne that the search is ongoing and they hope to find a new home by July 16, which is when their lease is up.

candicecai@asiaone.com

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