Six Singaporean men have been found guilty of running an illegal operation that rented out Singapore residential properties for short stays.
The men advertised the properties online over platforms such as Airbnb and HomeAway.
The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) revealed this in a media release on Monday (15 Sept).
Source: Eugenia Clara on Unsplash. Photo for illustration purposes only.
According to URA, the youngest of the men is 33 while the oldest is 81.
Authorities identified the six as:
Koh was the “key player behind the operation”. As the sole director of a company registered as SG Auto Car Pte Ltd, he used it to facilitate the illegal activities.
The company was renamed SG Bizloan Consultant in July 2021.
Koh engaged Lim, Chew, Low, and Chua between July 2019 and November 2021, paying them a monthly salary to take part in the illegal operation.
The four men, together with Chow, took turns to serve as the sole director of one of four companies. They were:
As company directors acting on Koh’s instructions, they signed tenancy agreements for private residential units.
There were a total of 31 of these units, which Koh sourced.
Source: CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash. Photo for illustration purposes only.
Koh subsequently advertised these units on online platforms catering to visitors needing short-term accommodation, including Airbnb and HomeAway.
He sublet them for stays of less than three consecutive months and collected rent.
Under the Planning Act, owners cannot let out private residential properties for less than three consecutive months to prevent frequent turnover of transient occupants.
To cover his tracks, Koh used multiple bank accounts, registered phone numbers and host accounts under different names on the online platforms.
However, the management council of one of the residential developments suspected that Edrich Group was using one of the units rented for short stays.
Source: Joyce Romero on Unsplash. Photo for illustration purposes only.
It reported this to the authorities, and URA probed the report by gaining feedback from the residents and managing agents of other developments.
The scale of the illegal operation soon became clear, and the offences came to light.
Authorities eventually fined the six men a total of S$1.27 million.
Koh, as the mastermind, was found guilty of 31 charges and fined a total of S$1,144,902.10 on Monday.
The court sentenced the five other men between August 2024 and March 2025.
Lim, Low, Chew, Chow, and Chua convicted on seven, 14, eight, four, and three charges, respectively:
Also read: Woman in S’pore faces over S$175,000 fine after illegally renting out 3 units on Airbnb
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Featured image adapted from Eugenia Clara on Unsplash. Photo for illustration purposes only.