'Sorry no Singaporean': Family tries to rent Upper Bukit Timah condo unit, shocked by rejection

Finding a location convenient to call home may not have been easy, but now it seems this Singaporean family has one more hurdle to cross - their nationality.

One Singaporean, surnamed Zhou, was shocked when he was rejected by a property agent due to his nationality while attempting to rent a condo unit along Upper Bukit Timah Road, Shin Min Daily News reported on Monday (Feb 10).

The 36-year-old who currently lives with his family of five in a Redhill HDB flat shared that the Southaven II unit on PropertyGuru had caught his wife's attention, and he tried to arrange a viewing for the property.

They were keen on that property due to it's proximity to a primary school nearby.

"The agent initially said we could view the apartment the next morning and asked how many people would be staying there and what their nationalities were," Zhou recalled.

He replied to the message stating the nationality of his five family members - Singaporean - and was startled by the agent's response.

"Sorry no Singaporean," the agent wrote in a text message to Zhou, according to a screenshot seen by Shin Min.

He further told the Chinese-language publication that this was his first time renting a home, and felt it absurd and unfair that locals would be discriminated in such a manner.

Speaking with Shin Min, the real estate agent in charge of marketing the unit shared that the owner of the property is a foreigner who had previous altercations with Singaporean tenants and did not wish to have the same experience again.

"As far as I'm aware, he previously rented to Singaporean tenants and ended up in court, so he wants to rent to foreigners this time instead," the agent added.

Separately, the agent pointed out that a higher offer was provided by a permanent resident (PR) in Singapore, but the homeowner ultimately chose a foreigner who offered a lower price, citing personal preference.

A landlord's right to decide

PropertyGuru has previously shared with AsiaOne that its platform prohibits indicating preferences such as race, religion, ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, or any physical or mental disability in its listings.

The Council for Estate Agencies' regulatory guidelines also mandate that agents be sensitive to the multicultural nature of Singapore's society and must advise landlords against discriminatory, offensive or stereotyped advertisements.

However, the decision to accept a tenant ultimately lies with the landlord, while property agents are just middlemen.

The Ministry of National Development said in a response to a Parliamentary question in 2022 about measures to prevent rental discrimination that rental decisions are ultimately private agreements between property owners and tenants.

"Similar to how a tenant has the freedom to choose his accommodation, a landlord has the right to decide whom he would like to rent his property to," the ministry explained.

Although there is a framework for protecting the rights of Singaporeans, the law cannot be relied upon in "every instance", and mutual trust, respect and understanding are needed within the community, MND stated.

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