Number 26 originally sat on 9,350 sqm of land, but this was expanded to 23,164 sqm after an adjacent plot of land was included in the property’s boundaries.
Mr Shanmugam had offered to maintain the land at his own cost after he found it overgrown with vegetation while visiting the site.
The cost of clearing the land, replanting greenery there and fencing up the parcel of land amounted to S$172,000. This was initially borne by the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) but was subsequently to be recovered from the tenant’s rent.
CPIB’s report said that the maintenance of this additional land costs Mr Shanmugam about S$25,000 annually – a cost which would have otherwise been borne by SLA.
In response to media queries, the authority said on May 12 that Mr Shanmugam had bid above the guide rent, but this was incorrect, CPIB found. The S$26,500 rental paid by the Law and Home Affairs Minister was equal to the guide rent.
With the additional cleared land at 26 Ridout Road, SLA valued the minimum rental of the property at S$26,500.
But it instead assessed the guide rent to be S$24,500, because on top of this sum, it intended to charge Mr Shanmugam another S$2,000 to recover the amortised cost of works to clear and incorporate the additional land.
This “lack of precision” was discovered during CPIB’s investigation, and it informed SLA.
As the property had not been in use since 2013, substantial repairs were needed. The total cost of essential repair works borne by SLA was S$515,400. It has the responsibility to undertake essential repair works to ensure the property was habitable, said CPIB’s report.
Mr Shanmugam paid S$61,400 to build the house’s car porch.
He told CPIB that he paid more than S$400,000 for additional improvements that were not covered by SLA’s restoration works.
The tenancy agreement for 26 Ridout Road was renewed in June 2021 for a second three-year term, with the rental price maintained at S$26,500 per month.
Private bungalow rental rates for new tenants in the area in 2018 ranged from S$23.64 per sqm per month to S$65 per sqm per month, with an average rate of S$38.83 per sqm per month.