|
IT IS a house of 100 tenants in Geylang.
No, it's not the title of the latest drama serial on TV but an extreme case of overcrowding in a three-storey terrace house in Geylang Lorong 28.
Understandably, the neighbours are upset over this.
Take the case of taxi driver Chan Kok Chuan who lives just next door.
When his TV could not receive any transmission last month, he checked the antenna and found that it had been tampered with to redirect signals to the house converted into a workers' dormitory.
Furious, Mr Chan, 46, who lives with his wife and two children, informed the police.
On another occasion, he had also called to complain about the littering outside his house.
His neighbours - some 100 foreigners - moved in late last year.
The house had been rented to a couple from China. They then sublet it to workers and students from China, Vietnam, Myanmar and Malaysia. Most are men.
They pay about $150 a month for a bed space in one of the 17 tiny rooms carved out using partition boards. The balcony on the second storey was also converted into a bedroom.
Neighbours, alarmed by the big influx of tenants, alerted the authorities.
In January, the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) issued a warning letter to the owner of the house who, neighbours say, is a Singaporean man in his 50s.
Private homes are not allowed to be turned into worker dormitories because of the inconvenience that the tenants might pose to the neighbours, the URA said.
Over the last 12 months, it had received 20 to 30 complaints per month on this matter. Offenders can be fined up to $200,000, face up to 12 months in jail or both.
Read the full report in The Sunday Times.
| 
