Woman from China pays S$450 rent to find 14 tenants in 'pigsty' Jurong West 3-room flat

A woman who came to Singapore to work had to rent a place to stay in a haste and settled for a readily available bed in a three-room flat in Jurong West for S$450 a month — without first viewing the property.

When she finally moved in, the woman from China was shocked to find the rooms of the flat partitioned to accommodate at least 14 tenants, which is a breach of Singapore's existing public housing rental rules.

After staying there for 10 days, she could not tolerate the conditions further, packed up and returned to her home country — without even asking for a refund of the first-month rent and one-month deposit, amounting to S$900.

Unit exposed

The horrid conditions were exposed after the tenant's sister, 41, surnamed Liu (transliteration), went to Shin Min Daily News with the details.

Liu said her sister rented a bed in a second floor unit of Block 501 Jurong West Street 51 in August 2025.

It turned out that the person Liu's sister had liaised with was likely subletting the flat.

Paid S$900 before viewing the unit

Liu's sister arrived in Singapore in mid-August for work at a beauty salon in Jurong West.

The rental flat was sourced through a friend's recommendation.

Liu's sister needed to register a rental address at the time as her official place of residence.

"She felt the apartment was conveniently located near her workplace, and with her employer urging her to finalise her details quickly, she was anxious to find a place to stay," Liu explained.

She paid one month's rent and one month's deposit of S$900 without seeing it for herself.

A "pigsty"

The home was described as a "pigsty" when she first moved in.

The unit had four partitioned spaces in total: Two of them housed six tenants each, one was occupied by a couple, while the last was occupied by an unknown number of people.

Photos provided by Liu showed only a narrow walkway that separated the makeshift partitions.

Clothes and towels were hung all over the windows of the living room and kitchen, while the walls and bathroom floors were dirty and grimy.

Unit extremely messy

According to Shin Min, one of the rooms had three bunk beds, with the lower bunks covered in towels or sheets that served as makeshift curtains.

More than 10 pairs of shoes and several suitcases piled up in the hallway, while the refrigerator was filled with various condiment bottles and other items.

Liu added that she personally went down to view the unit.

"I felt like it was unsuitable for anyone to live in. The environment was horrible," she recounted.

All the tenants restricted to one toilet

According to Liu, her sister's bed was located in the master bedroom, which had an attached bathroom.

However, she was not allowed to open the window or use the bathroom.

Instead, she had to share the common toilet with all the other tenants.

She described the air in the bedroom as "stagnant" and said the room had a "foul, stuffy smell".

She added that the shared toilet was "filthy" and tenants had to queue up just to shower or wash up.

The reporter also noted that several windows facing the corridor outside had been tightly shut, and were also covered with towels or curtains to prevent people from looking into the flat.

Some clothes were strung on ropes outside the unit to dry.

Endured for 10 days

Liu said her sister endured the conditions for about 10 days before deciding that she could no longer tolerate it and moved out.

She also resigned from her job and returned to China.

"She didn't even manage to get a refund on her rent. I feel the need to expose this," Liu said.

Key to the unit left outside

Liu told Shin Min that the tenants in the unit did not have their own keys.

Instead, a single key to the front door was kept hidden outside, meaning anyone could enter or leave at will.

This left the tenants with little sense of security or privacy.

When Shin Min reporters visited the unit on Sep. 18, they saw a woman, who was wearing pajamas, about to enter the flat.

When approached, the woman insisted that she was "only viewing the unit" and did not live there, before quickly shutting the door.

Other residents unaware of situation

Shin Min reported that the unit was so secluded that other residents who lived in the block were unaware of the number of people living in it.

The unit did not even have a unit number on the main door.

The block consists of four floors, with eateries and shops on the ground floor and residential units above.

A woman who lived on the third floor said she suspected the tenants of that unit used the staircase discreetly, and avoided the third floor altogether.

As a result, other residents were largely unaware of the situation.

Illegal subletting

A Shin Min reporter contacted a woman named "Xixi" (transliteration), who was allegedly the master tenant, regarding the situation.

She initially admitted to renting out the property, but quickly backtracked and denied any involvement after learning that she was speaking to a reporter.

When asked if she knew it was illegal to rent out a public housing unit to multiple people, she refused to comment and hung up the phone.

In Singapore, in order to prevent overcrowding, the number of tenants allowed in a flat is capped based on the flat type.

For a three-room flat, the maximum is six tenants.

For four-room or larger HDB flats, the cap has been temporarily relaxed to eight unrelated persons from Jan. 22, 2024 to Dec. 31 2026.

Separately, the rental of entire flats to non-Malaysian non-citizens is subject to the non-citizen quota, which is capped at 8 per cent for the neighbourhood and 11 per cent for the block.

Once the quota is reached, flat owners in that area may only rent to Singaporeans or Malaysians.

It is unclear whether the tenants in this case were Singaporeans.

Top photo via Shin Min Daily News, Google Maps