If you’re still wondering if Airbnb is illegal in Singapore, yes it is.
And if you’re wondering if authorities are turning a blind eye towards Airbnb, no they’re not.
Just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, the first Airbnb case was brought to court and tried.
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Introducing Terence Tan and Yao Songliang
Between 15 May to 21 June 2017, the two Airbnb hosts ran a business of renting out illegal home rentals.
Over the course of 5 weeks, they earned at least S$19,000.
They had also been renting flats at d’Leedon in Farrer Road since late 2015.
Set up companies to rent 4 different flats
The pair set up companies with names like Bluewater IT Solutions, Jim Hunter Pte Ltd and CyberCars Prime Workshop to rent 4 units at the condominium.
Even though their rental contracts stated that the units cannot be rented out, they’ve been advertising the units on home-sharing sites like Airbnb and Homeaway, as well as Web portals like Craigslist
They were property agents with Savills Residential and their licenses have been revoked by the Council of Estate Agencies.
There was use of deception and evasion to hide their scheme
It was said that they lead their guests to different units while waiting for suspicious security guards who followed them to leave.
They’ve even asked guests to lie about the actual unit number they’re staying at.
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They rented a 59 sqm flat to two guests for 23 nights and made S$4,406.
Another time, they rented another 59 sqm to 6 guests for 5 nights and made S$1,093.
The charges they were brought to court for were related to rentals made through Airbnb.
Sentencing will be delayed to 3 April
As this is the first case of prosecution for a breach of URA’s rules on short-term rentals, District Judge Kenneth Choo delayed sentencing until 3 April 2018.
He asked both parties for further submissions.
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So that there’ll be more reference for future cases.
Airbnb head of public policy for Southeast Asia, Mich Goh, said that they believe an individual should at least be able to share their private residence they live in with others..
And not be penalised for it.
She added that Airbnb is “repeatedly committed” to working with the government.
The government has said that a regulatory framework for short-term rental will be released before April.
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This article was first published on goodyfeed.com
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