Housing near NUS

HDB flats have a minimum tenancy of 6 months, for a whole flat or a single bedroom alike. A 12-month student lease clears that comfortably, so everything on this page is available to you.

• No legal rate exists. Every fee is negotiable and must be in writing.
• One agent, one side. Collecting from landlord and tenant in the same deal is an offence. CEA has fined agents for it.
• Told before, not after. The fee must be disclosed before the agent works for you — not after you sign the LOI.
• Go direct, pay nothing. No agent of your own means the landlord pays theirs.
• Custom, not law: about one month total, usually landlord-paid. Under S$6,000/month, tenants are increasingly billed half to one month.

Local tenants often pay nothing because they view flats themselves and deal with the landlord's agent directly. Students arriving from overseas usually cannot, so they engage their own agent and get billed. The difference is not your nationality — it is who engaged the agent. You can change that.