MEWR to ban subletting of hawker stalls
From next month, new hawker stallholders will no longer be allowed to sublet or assign their stalls to another person.
Hawker stalls in Singapore (TODAY File Photo)
SINGAPORE: From next month, new hawker stallholders will no longer be allowed to sublet or assign their stalls to another person.
Senior Minister of State for Environment and Water Resources, Grace Fu, said hawker stalls were set up to provide Singaporeans with an opportunity to run their own small business. As such, stalls should be personally run and not be used for profiteering.
Speaking in Mandarin during the debate on her ministry's budget in Parliament, Ms Fu said existing stallholders will have a three-year grace period to adjust to these new conditions.
She added that controlling subletting and assignment of stalls will help to stabilise rentals, reduce costs for stallholders and achieve food price stability.
The issue of hawkers transferring their stall tenancies for a high price has been an ongoing concern among customers, who worry about the impact on food prices. The practice is believed to have started around 10 years ago.
Channel NewsAsia reported in November 2011 that at least four stalls at a hawker centre in Kovan have changed hands for fees ranging between S$250,000 and S$300,000.
However, Ms Fu acknowledged that it is not easy for a stallholder to operate a stall for a full day. Thus, the National Environment Agency (NEA) will permit joint tenancies, and do away with the requirement that each stall can only have a single tenant.
NEA will also not set a reserve rent when tendering out vacant stalls. This means that even if the bidding price is below market price, NEA will allocate the vacant stall to the highest bidder as long as there are competitive bids.
Ms Fu also announced the locations where new hawker centres will be built within the next five years. They are Bukit Panjang, Yishun, Pasir Ris, Jurong West, Admiralty, Tampines and Punggol.
She said: "In the year ahead, we will be consulting closely with members and grassroots on the new centres that will be built. Their design and development should be informed by the views of the people they will serve as hawker centres are more than just places for affordable food.
"They are also important common spaces that cultivate the sense of community upon which environmental stewardship depends. Like schools, parks, playgrounds and community centres, they are places where Singaporeans from different walks of life encounter one another, share the same space and experience things together."
