SINGAPORE — Advertisements for campus accommodation at some universities in Singapore have appeared on Chinese social media platforms and Carousell recently, throwing the practice back into the spotlight.
Rooms at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) hostels were being offered for short- and long-term rentals on Chinese social media apps Xiaohongshu and WeChat.
One advertisement was offering a room for $350 for 19 days in December. Another offered a room for $45 a day. These rates are almost twice what the university charges students.
On the online marketplace Carousell, an air-conditioned room at the National University of Singapore's (NUS) Prince George's Park Residence was being offered for $1,200 a month for a five-month stay between January and May 2024. NUS charges students $868 a month for the same type of room.
Some of the advertisements on the Chinese platforms date back to 2021. They show how university students in Singapore continue to sublet hostel rooms for profit despite efforts by the institutions to snuff out the practice.
Students who sublet their rooms do so at considerable risk. Local universities told The Straits Times that those caught for doing so risk punishments such as being banned from on-campus housing, or having their scholarships terminated.
Students told ST the practice persists because rooms can be hard to come by as their numbers are limited, but many students want to experience life in halls of residence. This might prompt some of those lucky enough to get them to rent out the rooms for a quick buck even though it is disallowed.
In 2022, ST reported that NTU students were auctioning hostel rooms in a Telegram chat group, with prices of up to $900 a month.
Students were still doing so when ST made checks recently, with a double room without air-conditioning going for up to $500. NTU charges students about $350 for the same type of room.
A student assured this reporter, who was posing as an interested "tenant", that it was "safe" to rent from fellow students. Another student said he had been subletting his room for three semesters without being caught.
Former NUS students who stayed in halls between 2017 and 2023 told ST that the phenomenon was common and one may find "three subletters per block".
A former head of a block at NUS' Eusoff Hall said some sublet their rooms because they want to participate in hall sports but do not want to pay for a room to do so.
He added that those who rent from students might want to live on campus but do not want to participate in hall activities, usually a requirement to qualify for a room.
But he told ST that residents do not usually sublet to strangers, and said he has not met students who sublet their rooms for profit.
"It is usually an immediate friend, friend's friend, or at least an acquaintance," he said.
A former student who stayed at NUS' Raffles Hall said students usually give what he called a "brother price" of between $50 and $200 more than the original rate of the room. If they do not know the student they are renting the room to, the mark-up is higher — between $300 and $500 more than university rates.
A third-year local NUS student who rented a single room from an acquaintance in 2022 said he had done so to experience living in a university hall.
"I didn't get a slot for hall and the hall life is something you can't find elsewhere," he said, adding that he applied thrice through the university but was unable to get a room. He gave up and decided to rent from students who were subletting.
He pays more than $1,000 a month for the room and a meal plan, which is lower than the $2,746 the university charges. His "landlord" is a scholar who gets room and board free as part of his scholarship.
He said students like him will have to get to know the student committee members staying at their blocks in the hall to get advance notice when spot checks take place.
"We will just try to stay out of the hall during that period," he added.
An NUS spokesman warned that residents who sublet their rooms could receive demerit points which may result in the suspension or withdrawal of their housing eligibility, or the suspension or termination of their scholarships.
The offence will also be noted in one's educational records, added NUS.
"NUS residential spaces are strictly for authorised residents. Hostel residents are prohibited from subletting rooms to other individuals, regardless of monetary gain," said the NUS spokesman.
At NTU, hall residents who sublet their rooms can be evicted or barred from on-campus housing.
Apart from NUS and NTU, the only other varsity which offers on-campus accommodation here is the Singapore University of Technology and Design. Its chief communications officer Tammy Tan said the university has not encountered any incidents of subletting since 2019, but cautioned that it was an offence for students to sublet their rooms, or rent rooms from fellow students.
All three institutions did not go into specifics about the penalties for those who rent rooms from fellow students.
Both NUS and NTU said they will continue to conduct regular patrols and checks, and issue reminders to residents on housing rules.
The NTU spokesman said students who are aware of such activities should report them to their hall offices.
"Residents who no longer need on-campus housing are encouraged to withdraw from their hall, so that their room can be offered to the next eligible student," it added.
This article was first published in The Straits Times. Permission required for reproduction.
