Hi all,
TLDR; I do not trust the agent anymore and I want to withdraw my offer after signing LOI, landlord hasn't accepted yet. TA is not signed yet. We have paid the deposit, and we want the landlord to refund the deposit.
My friend is leaving Singapore, so I am interested to take over the unit. Based on his reviews, the agent is okay to deal with. No big issues with him.
Therefore, I proceed to sign a LOI, and transfer Good Faith Deposit to the landlord. However, he says he is representing me instead of landlord, and I have to pay him an amount of agent fee. I engaged him because he is the agent who posted the listing on property website and he was the one who handled the rental agreement with my friend. He is also representing landlord as another agent said so, so I believe he has a "flexibility" at here. My friend paid the agent fee also, as he is new to Singapore, and he didn't know the correct procedure.
After I sign the LOI, immediately, a minute after, he sent me the Tenancy Agreement with no signatures from all other parties. And he said the common practice in Singapore is tenant always sign everything first.
We do not believe him anymore because of the situation below:
- He made a lots of mistakes in every document, and I have to check multiple times.
- He is trying to do dual representatives, and collect money from both side, but with the name of other agent. He posted the listing and asking agent fee from me and my friend in the Jan 2024.
- He asked me to sign the TA without written LOI acceptance from landlord.
- We never met the landlord, and my friend never met the landlord, and he refused me to meet the landlord just to verify the ownership and have a talk. I have no means to contact landlord directly to rent the unit.
Now we want to take back our offer, and not renting this unit anymore. What can we do?
In the LOI, there is lapse of offer.
"This letter of intent shall lapse within 03 days from the date hereof if not accepted by the Landlord, in which event, any deposit or monies received by Landlord shall be returned to the Tenant immediately, and the parties shall not have any further claims against each other thereafter. In the event of Letter of Intent is accepted, the parties negotiations of the Tenancy Agreement and the treatment of the Good Faith Deposit shall be subjected to clauses 12 and 13 below."
Clauses 12 and 13 are basically saying if I didn't negotiate the Tenancy Agreement in good faith or withdraws my interest, my Good Faith Deposit will be entitled to the forfeiture.
