While international students and students who stay far away from campus have been struggling to find suitable lodging, some local students have been profiteering from their quandaries.
A Telegram chat group was reportedly set up for international students without on-campus accommodation for auctioning purposes.
As reported by The Straits Times earlier this week, rent prices offered by these local students ballooned, with some even going up to $900 a month, an astronomical increase from the original prices.
This is double the rent that the university charges for a single, non air-conditioned room in one of NTU’s newer halls. The most expensive room in NTU is $635 a month, and it is for a single bedroom that is fully air-conditioned and equipped with an ensuite toilet.
Most rooms being offered on Telegram do not have air conditioning, much less attached toilets. Sometimes, they are not even single occupancy rooms.
Imagine paying $900 for a double room with no air-conditioning, no toilet and no additional amenities.
NTU’s Response
To tame the rascals, NTU sent an email to the students on12 July, strongly emphasising that subletting hall rooms is not allowed, whether or not payment is involved.
Punitive measures will be strictly doled out to students who rent out their rooms against hall rooms; eviction and other disciplinary actions, including suspension and expulsion, are some examples of disciplinary action that were cited.
NTU also added that students who no longer require on-campus housing are required to return the hall vacancy to the school so that it can be offered to the next student who needs it.
Finally, the email rounded up with NTU reminding students to be wary of scammers and to not respond to offers for hall rooms or make any payments to third parties for such offers.
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