$750 for bomb shelter? Rental listing for Balestier room removed after rousing suspicion

If you've ever wanted to feel extra safe at home, this may be the room for you.

A user purportedly posted on Facebook group Room Rental Singapore to advertise a room at Balestier Road for $750 a month.

The problem? The room looks suspiciously like a bomb shelter, Shin Min Daily News reported on Sunday (May 12). 

According to the now-deleted post, the unit is a two-minute walk from supermarkets and food courts, 500m from 13 bus stops, and near Boon Keng and Novena MRT stations.

Additionally, the landlord isn't residing in the unit and there are no agency fees.

Tenants are allowed to cook, use the pool and gym facilities and have visitors in the day.

In the fully furnished four-bedroom, two-bathroom unit, tenants will have access to a washing machine, dryer and refrigerator. Utility expenses are shared between tenants.

Netizens commented that the photo of the room that is for rent resembles a bomb shelter with air-conditioning installed, with little space left after the bed frame — which is pictured — is placed.

Some netizens were outraged by the asking price of $750, which they felt was too high — with some wondering if it is legal to rent out a bomb shelter, Shin Min reported.

Be alert when looking for rental listings, Propnex officer says

Speaking with the Chinese publication, Propnex Group key executive officer Lim Yong Hock said that only the spaces that are stipulated bedrooms are allowed to be rented out. 

It may be illegal to install air-conditioning in a bomb shelter, he added. 

He also advised those looking to rent to be alert when looking for listings as there have been more rental scams surfacing on social media of late.

"Foreigners in particular may not be familiar with Singapore's (rental) regulations, and rent prices are getting more expensive," he said. 

"If they take the risk with something cheap, they may find themselves in trouble."

'Willing buyer, willing seller'

While it appears that the unit in the listing is a private home as it mentioned pool and gym facilities, Era Realty property agent Asaph Mathew told AsiaOne that it is illegal to rent out a HDB bomb shelter as a room.

If homeowners do so, they risk being penalised.

Some older condominiums do have bomb shelters and because those are considered private property, it is possible to rent out bomb shelters as rooms, Mathew said.

"For private (property), it's very much on a 'willing buyer, willing seller' basis," he added.

When asked if he had seen listings for bomb shelters repurposed as rooms, Mathew replied: "During the Covid-19 period, yes — desperate times call for desperate measures — but recently, no."

Back then, those repurposed bomb shelters were rented out at under $1,000 a month, he added.

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khooyihang@asiaone.com