Renting out HDB / foreign worker housing

Study notes

Subletting HDB flats and bedrooms is a privilege tied to ownership status and the minimum occupation period, with caps on who and how many may occupy — the exam tests eligibility more than drafting.

What you must know

• Subletting the whole flat generally requires the owners to be Singapore citizens and to have satisfied the minimum occupation period.
• Subletting bedrooms is subject to caps on the number of rooms by flat type, and the owners must also meet the applicable occupation period.
• Every subtenant must be registered with HDB, and subtenants must be legally resident in Singapore.
• Occupancy caps limit the total number of occupants in a flat — flat type and room count set the maximum.
• Subtenants must not be owners of other HDB flats themselves (unless eligible), and certain pass-holders face sector restrictions.
• Foreign worker housing adds MOM rules: maximum occupants per room, approved dormitories or workers’ quarters, and sectoral limits on HDB rooms.
• Breaches — unregistered subtenants, overcrowding, unauthorised subletting — risk compulsory acquisition of the flat.