But in a twist, their landlord, Ideal Accommodation, has been given the boot.

The situation arose after the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) discovered that Ideal had illegally partitioned apartments - thus creating 600 sub-units from 140 units - at The Grangeford condominium.

This tactic allowed Ideal to collect more in rent. It could collect up to $8,000 by leasing one apartment to eight tenants, instead of about $4,600 by renting it out to one.

URA told Ideal in late April that the partitions had to be torn down by Wednesday, but it did not let the tenants know. Most were told only on Sunday, giving them a scant three days to clear out.

On Wednesday, the official owner of the condo, Cove Development, a unit of Overseas Union Enterprise (OUE), took action.

It terminated Ideal's two-year lease after just five months, and gained a deadline extension from the URA.

Cove now has till July 27 to tear down the partitions and restore the apartments.

The tenants, mostly expatriate professionals and students from places like the United States, Hong Kong and Indonesia, will have to move out earlier than that, although the date is uncertain, said Mr Steven Ngai, OUE's company secretary.

He said there were several options before the tenants, and that Cove would meet them soon to discuss these.

Read the full story in Thursday's edition of The Straits Times.