HE'S a 'land baron' of the worst kind, leasing out properties that he has no right to - and then vanishing with the money.
His tenants are then left to face the music. In most cases, they are evicted and end up losing a bundle.
If there's a high-profile rental scam, chances are Robert Ho (not his real name) is somehow involved.
And it appears that he keeps doing it.
In July last year, a High Court judgement ordered Huku Corp to pay the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) $2.5 million in rental arrears, contract breach penalties and interests for 2 Outram Park, which Ho had sublet from 2002 to 2005.
Yet, recently he was back in the news with 38 Commonwealth Avenue, a converted hawker centre. His tenants there found out he had been renting the place illegally to them.
And when The New Paper team posed as businessmen interested in renting space at the centre yesterday, Ho himself showed us around.
Apart from the $2.5 million suit, there have been at least four rental scams where he owed SLA months, sometimes years, of rental arrears, The New Paper has learnt.
How much does this man owe SLA in all?
And how much has SLA recovered from him?
SLA, which puts buildings up for lease, would not say.
In its statement to The New Paper, it would only say: 'As for the other past cases... the properties have been repossessed by the State, and SLA is in the process of recovering the outstanding arrears.
'As custodian of State properties, SLA does not let up in its efforts and measures to recover rental and State assets.'
A Biznet check showed Ho was made a bankrupt in 1988 by a former primary schoolmate over an unpaid friendly loan.
When contacted, the former schoolmate said Ho was discharged from bankruptcy when he eventually paid up - nearly 20 years after the loan was given.
POLICE REPORTS
Ho has had many police reports made against him, by both his former partners and tenants.
So why has he not been blacklisted?
A former employee said: 'No one can do anything to him. He knows what loopholes in the system to exploit.
'You may not find his name linked to the companies that rent from the authorities, but he'll pop up to sublet the buildings later.'
Ho's name appears in the business profiles of two of the four companies that leased buildings from SLA.
And he's always the one collecting rent.
He's there working out deals for the directors of the companies which leased buildings from SLA.
When The New Paper posed as businessmen interested in renting shop space at 38 Commonwealth Avenue, it was Ho who showed us around.
Yet he is not one of the directors in the company which leased the building from SLA. (See other report.)
The New Paper first exposed Ho in 2005.
But little has changed.
SIMPLE SCHEME
Each time, Ho uses a simple scheme.
First, rent an entire building from its primary landlord under Company A.
Then, sublet the building - either all of it or divided into smaller units - to sub-tenants under Company B.
It seems perfectly above board.
Except for a few important details.
Like how neither Company A nor Company B has permission from the primary landlord to sublet the building.
And how Company A does not pay rental despite Company B collecting rent from the subtenants.
Eventually, the primary landlord gets a court warrant to repossess the building.
Over the years, hundreds of subtenants have lost months of paid-up rent when they are suddenly confronted with eviction.
By the time the rental scam comes to light, angry tenants realise - too late - that Ho has disappeared.
He and his business associates then continue bidding successfully for the buildings put up for tender by SLA.
HIS RENTAL SCAMS: - 1998 to 2000: Abex Centre, a company in which Ho was and is a shareholder, owed the Land Office (now SLA) more than $600,000 in rental arrears for 2 Adis Road.
- 2002 to 2005: Huku Corp rented 2 Outram Road from SLA. The building was sublet by Systemveyor Engineering, a company in which Ho was a director, as well as Huku Corp. In July last year, Huku Corp was ordered by the High Court to pay SLA about $2.5 million.
- 2005 to 2006: A company in which Ho was a director rented 320 Havelock Road from SLA and marketed it under a different name. It is not known how much rental arrears were owed to SLA.
- 2006 to 2007: Pagar Park rented 38 Commonwealth Ave from SLA. Ho sublets the building under the company Systemveyor Engineering.
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| Evasive when questioned
TO rent an office space at 38 Commonwealth Avenue, no deposit is needed.
'You can pay one, two or three months rental first until you are sure you like the place,' Ho said with a smile.
He was showing this reporter and a photographer around the second floor of the converted hawker centre.
'Or just pay two weeks rent to try it out,' he added persuasively.
Dressed casually, the small-sized man rattled off various rental prices for different units: $400 for 100 sq ft; $650, $800 and $850 for 200 sq ft depending on their locations.
And he was never short of explanations for the rundown appearance of the building.
Crude concrete blocks lined up along one balcony? They stop the rain from flowing in as the makeshift awning cannot be more than 1m due to conservation rules.
But he became more evasive when we started asking about the landlord of the building.
He said he was just the 'marketing person', and that he did not know the name of the company running the place.
But tenants had earlier named Pagar Park and Systemveyor Engineering as the two companies they had dealt with.
We continued: 'Surely, we need to know who we are signing a contract with?'
'Oh, there's no contract to sign,' he replied, 'so there's no problem leaving any time.'
And that was how things were in 2005 at 2 Outram Road when tenants rented without contracts from the same man. Except it was he and his staff who disappeared when SLA issued a warrant to repossess the building then.
Now, history is repeating itself.
An SLA spokesman said it has started legal proceedings against Pagar Park to get a Warrant to Dispossess Unlawful Occupant and the matter is now before the courts.
And 'immediate action to recover the property' will be taken once the warrant is issued.
SLA said it had informed tenants at 38 Commonwealth Avenue that Pagar Park had not sought approval for subletting the place and its tenancy had been terminated due to rental arrears.
Tenants who have claims against Pagar Park should seek 'independent legal advice'.
The SLA spokesman said Ho was never a named director nor shareholder of Pagar Park.
And Ho, his associates and Pagar Park's directors, have been 'blacklisted and are debarred from participation in any public sector projects, including taking up State properties'.
SLA advises the public that before entering any sub-tenancy agreements, they should first make enquiries that the ultimate landlord's permission to sublet had been sought and obtained.
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i hate my blood uncle.
he's one bastard.i will not resort to calling him bastard if he's not done this.
he's let my whole family including his divorced parents(grandpa & grandma,still alive) down.
he's staying with my grandpa til my grandpa is in old folks home currently.
so he has the whole flat to himself.
as he's in need of money(dono for wad ****ing purpose) he rents the whole 3-room flat to a grp of 4 china ladies. unwed mommies.
my grandma dont even know.
he's not putting my grandma in his eyes.
he dont even care.as long he gets the money.
last week,my mom n relatives decided to get him to "chase" those tenants out cos its illegal as the flat's under my grandparents' name.KNS
& And 'immediate action to recover the property' will be taken once the warrant is issued.
SLA said it had informed tenants at 38 Commonwealth Avenue that Pagar Park had not sought approval for subletting the place and its tenancy had been terminated due to rental arrears.
Tenants who have claims against Pagar Park should seek 'independent legal advice'.
The SLA spokesman said Ho was never a named director nor shareholder of Pagar Park.
And Ho, his associates and Pagar Park's directors, have been 'blacklisted and are debarred from participation in any public sector projects, including taking up State properties'.
SLA advises the public that before entering any sub-tenancy agreements, they should first make enquiries that the ultimate landlord's permission to sublet had been sought and obtained.
as he's already collected advance 3 months deposit from them which totals up to sgd$1.6k & they've only stayed for like 2~3weeks,he still gotta compensate them.
mommie & her other 4 siblings (5 of them) gotta fork out money to help him.
after all,he still calls my mommie & others to scream yell complain that they dont treat him as own brother.
i ask u people,if they dont treat him as own brother,would they even fork out bout SGD$300 each to help him?would they have not thought for him under any circumstances?despite him letting them down ALL THE TIME.
living example of failure as to case reported in papers above
:cry3:
Ordinary 'uncle' cons tenants by playing SHADOW BOSS 
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