Owner of 3-room flat ordered to remove extra 'floor' after listing 'loft' unit for sale at $480k

A homeowner who added a mezzanine floor in his three-room flat has been ordered by the Housing Development Board (HDB) to demolish it. 

The flat at Ang Mo Kio Ave 8 was recently put up for sale online with an asking price of $480,000, Shin Min Daily News reported on Saturday (June 1). 

According to the now-deleted listing, the homeowner spent $20,000 to build a loft in the master bedroom. 

Photos of the flat show a bed placed on the loft, while a sofa and television were arranged below it. 

The 721 sq ft unit has a remaining lease of 55 years. 

Other three-room flats in the vicinity were sold at prices between $300,000 and $400,000, recent HDB resale records showed.

After the listing for the 'loft' unit was posted online, several buyers expressed interest in the flat. 

The listing, however, also caught the attention of the authorities.

The owner of the flat has been informed that the house cannot be listed for sale until the unauthorised mezzanine floor has been demolished, Shin Min reported.

According to HDB's renovation guidelines, homeowners are not allowed to conduct renovation works such as extending the floor area of their flat by covering over void areas.

The additional load from a mezzanine floor may compromise the structural integrity of the building, the housing board explained.

Other renovation works that are not allowed include the hacking and removal of structural fixtures such as reinforced concrete walls, columns, beams and slabs.

Loft flats in Singapore

Loft flats built by the housing board are rare and often come with hefty resale price tags. 

In December 2022, a five-room loft unit in Punggol Sapphire changed hands for $1.22 million. 

There are 23 such units in the Punggol Sapphire project, which was completed in 2013. 

In Queenstown, the SkyTerrace@Dawson project also has four- or five-room loft units. 

The asking price for a four-room loft unit in the area starts from $1.2 million, Shin Min reported. One of the five-room loft units was snapped up for $1.32 million in November 2021. 

ALSO READ: Ubi cafe built on illegal mezzanine ordered to close after just 1 month

claudiatan@asiaone.com