ALMOST 12,000 owners of Housing Board flats have so far rented out their apartments, taking advantage of recent rule changes allowing them to make some money from their properties.
More than a third of these flat owners are above 55 years old - older folk who now have extra cash each month to supplement their retirement needs.
HDB said many of these seniors move in with their children while letting out their own flats.
Depending on the size, location and condition of their flats, their rental income can range from an average of $700 a month for a two-room flat to $1,300 for an executive flat, say property agents.
Before 2003, HDB flat owners were not allowed to rent out the entire apartment unless, for example, they were working or studying abroad.
This rule was first eased in 2003, in part to give flat owners a way to earn cash from their properties.
However, until recently, relatively few flat owners exercised this option - partly because the criteria remained fairly strict. Someone seeking to rent out his flat in 2004, for example, was required to have lived in it for at least 15 years.
If he had paid off his HDB home loan, then the requirement was 10 years.
With such conditions in place, only 2,689 flats were given the go-ahead by HDB to be rented out between October 2003 and February last year.
Then in March last year - in a further attempt to address complaints from HDB flat owners that they were 'asset-rich, cash-poor' - the minimum occupation period was cut to 10 years, and five years for those who had paid off their HDB loans.
The changes were a godsend for 58-year-old Madam Tay Jee Mai, whose rental income is now paying for her husband's medical treatment.
The mother of two, who used to work as a helper at a food stall, had to give up that part-time job to look after her husband, who was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2004.
They rented out their 20-year-old four-room flat in Yishun to a Filipino family for about $800 a month and moved in with their daughter and her husband in the young couple's five-room flat in Woodlands.
'It was our last resort,' she said, as the treatment had cleaned out the couple's retirement savings.
'My husband couldn't work, I couldn't work, and the cancer drugs were very expensive.'
Property agencies such as Propnex, C&H Realty and ERA Singapore say the strengthening economy has raised demand for rental HDB units over the past year - most flats are on the market for a month at most.
A senior division director of Propnex, Mr Eric Cheng, estimated that HDB flat rentals had risen by up to 15 per cent from a year ago.
The flats are usually taken up by Malaysians, Chinese nationals or Indian nationals, who are either working or studying here.
Agents say some senior citizens who put their flats up for rent do so not because they are cash-strapped, but because they are moving in with their children to take care of the grandchildren.
In other cases, these retirees need to be cared for because of medical problems.
C&H managing director Albert Lu foresees more people renting out their flats over time as the population ages.
tanhy@sph.com.sg
