URA orders more detailed public survey on Airbnb-type home rentals after earlier mixed feedback

THE Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) has commissioned a "more detailed survey" of Singaporeans' views on short-term accommodations, after a public consultation earlier this year yielded mixed results.

The survey, to be conducted by a research firm, will complement feedback obtained through the public consultation exercise and meetings with stakeholders, URA said.

"We will continue to study the matter carefully, before deciding on the next steps forward," a spokesman said on Monday (July 23).

Earlier this month, National Development Minister Lawrence Wong said that new laws allowing for Airbnb-style stays are unlikely to come any time soon, in response to MPs' questions about an ongoing review of a proposed framework for regulating short-term rentals of private homes.

Currently, stays in private homes have to be for at least three months. Among the proposals made is to allow properties to be used as short-term accommodation for up to 90 days, as long as owners who hold 80 per cent of the share value agree to a change in land use.

But feedback has been mixed so far, though URA did not give the breakdown of responses from the public consultation exercise which ended in May.

"Some felt that the proposed regulations were overly stringent. But others thought that tighter regulations were needed, especially to address the concerns of those who might not be willing to have their residential apartments let out for short-term accommodation," said the URA spokesman.

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