Govt mulls stronger laws against renovation fraud, after 100 cases reported between 2019 and 2021
SINGAPORE — The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is mulling legal amendments to make it easier to establish that renovation fraud has occurred, after the authorities investigated 100 such cases between 2019 and 2021, Law and Home Affairs Minister K Shanmugam said on Monday (July 4).
Out of these cases, 72 were prosecuted in court, he said.
Mr Shanmugam was responding to a parliamentary question on whether there has been an increase in criminal cases involving renovation contractors taking deposits for renovation works they did not plan on completing.
Renovation fraud occurs when contractors become uncontactable after receiving payment, or give excuses on why they are unable to complete the promised works.
Mr Shanmugam has asked his ministry to study if there is scope to amend the law to make it easier to establish fraud in such cases.
