In numbers: The Ridout Road bungalows rented by ministers Shanmugam and Balakrishnan

SINGAPORE: Investigations by the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) and Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean have found that there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing or preferential treatment in the rental of state properties along Ridout Road by two Singapore ministers.

The reports by CPIB and Mr Teo were released on Wednesday (Jun 28). They detailed the transactions of 26 and 31 Ridout Road, which are rented by Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam and Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan respectively.

Here are the key numbers from the reports regarding the two black-and-white colonial bungalows. 

26 RIDOUT ROAD

The lease for 26 Ridout Road was signed by Mr Shanmugam's wife in June 2018. At that time, the house had been vacant for more than four years, having attracted no bids since its last occupants moved out in December 2013.

The monthly rent was S$26,500 (US$19,590), which was – and remained as of 2022 – the highest in estate, according to the data in Mr Teo's report.

The tenancy was granted for 3+3+3 years, which is the maximum that can be granted at any one time in the first instance when entering into a tenancy agreement.

The bungalow has a floor area of 856.5 sqm (9,219 sq ft), with rental working out to be S$30.94 per sqm per month.

The report showed that the average rental rate paid by new black-and-white bungalow tenants in the estate in 2018 was S$29.78 per sqm per month, with others paying between S$26 per sqm per month and S$33.33 per sqm per month.

Number 26 originally sat on 9,350 sqm of land, but this was expanded to 23,164 sqm after an adjacent plot of land was included in the property's boundaries.

Mr Shanmugam had offered to maintain the land at his own cost after he found it overgrown with vegetation while visiting the site.

The cost of clearing the land, replanting greenery there and fencing up the parcel of land amounted to S$172,000. This was initially borne by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) but was subsequently to be recovered from the tenant's rent.

CPIB's report said that the maintenance of this additional land costs Mr Shanmugam about S$25,000 annually – a cost which would have otherwise been borne by SLA.

In response to media queries, the authority said on May 12 that Mr Shanmugam had bid above the guide rent, but this was incorrect, CPIB found. The S$26,500 rental paid by the Law and Home Affairs Minister was equal to the guide rent.

With the additional cleared land at 26 Ridout Road, SLA valued the minimum rental of the property at S$26,500.

But it instead assessed the guide rent to be S$24,500, because on top of this sum, it intended to charge Mr Shanmugam another S$2,000 to recover the amortised cost of works to clear and incorporate the additional land.

This "lack of precision" was discovered during CPIB's investigation, and it informed SLA.

As the property had not been in use since 2013, substantial repairs were needed. The total cost of essential repair works borne by SLA was S$515,400. It has the responsibility to undertake essential repair works to ensure the property was habitable, said CPIB's report.

Mr Shanmugam paid S$61,400 to build the house's car porch. 

He told CPIB that he paid more than S$400,000 for additional improvements that were not covered by SLA's restoration works.

The tenancy agreement for 26 Ridout Road was renewed in June 2021 for a second three-year term, with the rental price maintained at S$26,500 per month.

Private bungalow rental rates for new tenants in the area in 2018 ranged from S$23.64 per sqm per month to S$65 per sqm per month, with an average rate of S$38.83 per sqm per month.

31 RIDOUT ROAD

The lease for 31 Ridout Road was signed by Dr Balakrishnan's wife in October 2019.

At that time, it had been vacant for more than six years, having last been occupied in July 2013.

During that time, two bids for tenancy were received for the property, but the bids of S$12,000 and S$5,000 were below the guide rent.

The monthly rent was S$19,000, which exceeded the S$18,800 guide rent, CPIB's report said. The tenancy was granted for 3+2+2 years.

The house has a floor area of 824.3 sqm (8,873 sq ft), with rental working out to be S$23.05 per sqm per month.

This was lower than rental rates paid by other new black-and-white bungalow tenants in the estate in 2019, a fact which Mr Teo's report attributed to "the condition of the property".

"This rental rate of S$23.05 per sqm per month was comparable to other properties of 'average' condition at that time," the report said.

Data in the report showed that new renters in the estate in 2019 paid between S$23.05 per sqm per month and S$33.33 per sqm per month, with an average rate of S$29.60 per sqm per month.

Essential repair works at the house – which sits on 9,157.36 sqm of land – cost SLA S$570,500.

As for how the sprucing works done for the 26 and 31 Ridout Road properties measure against other black-and-white properties, SLA provided a list of four properties for comparison in response to media queries on Thursday.

The cost of works on three Malcolm Road properties and another on Orange Grove Road – with gross floor areas between 480 sqm and 742 sqm - ranged from about S$408,800 to S$1.13 million.

During an interview with CPIB, Dr Balakrishnan said that he had paid more than S$200,000 for additional improvement works.

The tenancy agreement for 31 Ridout Road was renewed after the first three-year term. Mrs Balakrishnan requested and was granted a renewal of another 3+2 year term, instead of the 2+2 year term that was earlier granted.

The rent was increased to S$20,000 per month after "taking into consideration the then prevailing market conditions" last year, said CPIB's report.

According to Mr Teo's report, private bungalow rental rates for new tenants in the area in 2019 ranged from S$21.11 per sqm per month to S$35.71 per sqm per month, with an average rate of S$27 per sqm per month.

OTHER BLACK-AND-WHITE BUNGALOWS

SLA is responsible for managing about 2,600 state properties, including about 600 black-and-white bungalows, other landed and non-landed residential properties, former schools, former army camp sites and shophouses.

Of these bungalows, 87 per cent are managed by third-party managing agents (MAs), while 13 per cent are managed by SLA directly.

The 14 black-and-white bungalows in the Ridout Road estate have been managed by various MAs over the years, including DTZ Facilities and Engineering, and Colliers International Consultancy and Valuation.

Data in Mr Teo's report also shed light on rental rates of other black-and-white bungalows between 2017 and 2022.

Average rental prices of black-and-white bungalows in Ridout Road have risen by about 25 per cent in that period – from S$10,338 in 2017 to S$12,972 last year.

Rents in 2022 ranged from S$2,250 for a property in Sembawang to S$41,500 for a property in Nassim.