In Singapore, vacant hawker stalls are put up for tender by the National Environment Agency (NEA), and interested hawkers can place a bid during NEA's monthly tender exercise.

While this is typically a very uneventful process, one enterprising man has successfully secured two hawker stalls in Tanglin Halt Market -- by bidding the princely sum of S$1 each.

Man made four separate S$1 bids

In February 2021, the man known as Jeffery Koh Kao Shin made a total of four bids for four individual hawker stalls, all of which were S$1 bids.

He was the only one to bid for three adjacent stalls at Tanglin Halt Market.

But he failed to secure the bid for a stall at North Bridge Road Market, losing out to another individual who bid S$28 instead.

Single bidder will get it

However, according to NEA rules, stalls receiving only a single bid will be returned to the tender pool in the following month.

The stall will only be awarded to the single bidder if there are no other bidders the following month.

If there are other bids for the stall the following month, it will be awarded to the highest bidder, as per the rules.

In March 2021, Koh made the same bids for two stalls at Tanglin Halt Market, and secured both of them, being the only one who made bids for them.

These bids were also made at S$1 each.

There were other S$1 bids

While the S$1 bids may seem unusual, it may be more common than one imagines.

During the March tender exercise, four other individuals bid $1 for their respective stalls, although only Koh managed to secure his two hawker stalls successfully.

According to HDB, Tanglin Halt Market will be demolished in 2024, so his low-rent days might be relatively short-lived.

Top image via Google Maps/Renny Low.