LOI signed but no TA produced within 7 days

[chapung]

Hi,

I have been reading many cases about the LOI and TA in this forum and ., but I still feel uncertain that I would have the right to get my deposit refund. Let me align the timeline a bit, hoping that it would make my case more understandable.

Day 1 - I have signed the LOI with the agent and given my "good faith deposit". The agent told me he will get it to the landlord and would send us a copy once the landlord has signed. He gave me a receipt with no header nor recipient's name for the deposit. Only after asking for his name to be put, I then managed to take a photo of his IC with the receipt with his signature.

Day 3 - The agent said the landlord has agreed and signed the LOI, and he would give us a copy of the signed LOI. The agent informed me that the TA will be signed and handover to take place on the day before the official rental date (Day 35).

Day 12 - We still haven't received the signed LOI. The agent gave some excuses that the landlord's agent has not sent over to him. I get very worried as I still see the property being advertised on . by the landlord's agent at 10% higher rate than my LOI. I felt that "my agent" has not been protecting my benefit, as he has not been after the signed LOI and just giving me words that the LOI has been signed, allowing the TA signing date to be pushed to the last day (thus exposing my risk to landlord walking away if they got a better deal on .). I started to recall all the incidents and question the trustworthiness of my agent.

Day 13 (Today) - After chasing and giving hard deadline, finally the agent sent me a copy of the signed LOI. I once again ask for the TA to be signed earlier, but it was rejected. With all this things happening, I am not so sure if want to take this property any more as I feel that there are agents on both sides not being straightforward (they are friends from the same company).

My question is:
- There is a clause in the LOI saying that the TA has to be signed and agreed within 7 days. If the landlord fails to sign the TA, he shall refund the deposit immediately. If the tenant fails to sign the TA, the tenant forfeit the deposit. Since it is now 13 days and still has not been signed, will I be able to get that refunded?
- By the landlord signing LOI dated on Day 2, but I still see the property being advertised on Day 13 and still there, would that break the purpose of the Letter of Intent and the "good faith" deposit? As I understand that when the landlord accept the Letter of Intent and accepting the deposit, he is supposed to take the property off the market.

Sorry for the lengthy case, and thank you very much for sharing your view.

[AngMoG]

chapung,

Yes, legally you are in the right that you can demand the deposit back seeing as the TA is still not signed. However, are you prepared to go to court over that?

I would push very hard (daily SMS!) to the agent about getting the TA signed, until you either get a reply that it is ready or that the landlord decided to go with a better offer. Give a clear deadline (5 days?) by when you want to either have the TA signed, or the deposit refunded.

[the lynx]

Pardon me, but isn't good faith deposit not refundable?

[AngMoG]

Pardon me, but isn't good faith deposit not refundable?

If made in good faith by both sides - but in this case, it does not look like the landlord and/or agents are acting in good faith (i.e. with the intention to close the deal as quickly as possible), so the prospective tenant should be able to get it back I believe.

[JR8]

I consider the good faith deposit as akin to a 'performance bond'. A lopsided one though, i.e. if the tenant changes his mind, the bond is lost.

Not so in the case of this Landlord in this case it seems. He doesn't want to sign a TA, or return the depo. I wonder if he's done this to more than one person? Either way, it sounds very dodgy.

Have you checked that this realtor/agent is registered and fully legal, per the SG authorities? ... https://www.cea.gov.sg/cea/app/newimplp ... ister.jspa

[x9200]

LOI is worth nothing and has no legal bonding power so if good faith deposit GFD is a part of it, it has to be paid back.

I did the whole paying-back thing with our last house hunting exercise. After the LOI was signed by all the parties we changed our mind and decided that we were not comfortable with the LL and demanded the GFD to be paid back and it was paid to us without any fuss.

[chapung]

I consider the good faith deposit as akin to a 'performance bond'. A lopsided one though, i.e. if the tenant changes his mind, the bond is lost.

Not so in the case of this Landlord in this case it seems. He doesn't want to sign a TA, or return the depo. I wonder if he's done this to more than one person? Either way, it sounds very dodgy.

Have you checked that this realtor/agent is registered and fully legal, per the SG authorities? ... https://www.cea.gov.sg/cea/app/newimplp ... ister.jspa

Thanks for the comment. Yes, I have checked and the agent is registered and fully legal.

[chapung]

LOI is worth nothing and has no legal bonding power so if good faith deposit GFD is a part of it, it has to be paid back.

I did the whole paying-back thing with our last house hunting exercise. After the LOI was signed by all the parties we changed our mind and decided that we were not comfortable with the LL and demanded the GFD to be paid back and it was paid to us without any fuss.

Thanks for the comment and sharing the case. Note taken. I will contact the agent for refund and see what he will say.

[chapung]

chapung,

Yes, legally you are in the right that you can demand the deposit back seeing as the TA is still not signed. However, are you prepared to go to court over that?

I would push very hard (daily SMS!) to the agent about getting the TA signed, until you either get a reply that it is ready or that the landlord decided to go with a better offer. Give a clear deadline (5 days?) by when you want to either have the TA signed, or the deposit refunded.

Thanks, AngMoG, for the advice. We will definitely take that into consideration. Like I mentioned, at this point, we feel very uncomfortable with the landlord and the agent, and looking to get refunded and better find a new place with less headache.

[missfong02]

Hi chapung,

Just wondering if you managed to get your booking deposit back?

I am in a similar situation, though my LOI states that if they both parties don't agree with the TA (which we had provided to them and received no acknowledgement) by a certain date, they had to refund the booking deposit within 7 days.

They are refusing to pay us the deposit based on the rationale of "opportunity costs" and capital costs for conditions in the LOI (i.e. general cleaning, whitegoods).

Would be good to know what were your next steps and the outcome.

Cheers

[chapung]

Hi chapung,

Just wondering if you managed to get your booking deposit back?

I am in a similar situation, though my LOI states that if they both parties don't agree with the TA (which we had provided to them and received no acknowledgement) by a certain date, they had to refund the booking deposit within 7 days.

They are refusing to pay us the deposit based on the rationale of "opportunity costs" and capital costs for conditions in the LOI (i.e. general cleaning, whitegoods).

Would be good to know what were your next steps and the outcome.

Cheers

Hi missfong02,

We had a proof that the property was still advertised and re-posted. This helps in showing that my LOI counterpart did not respect the LOI. In the end, the agents were holding back about 2-3 weeks before they returned the deposit. Yes, they have returned my deposit.

Hope you get yours back. In my opinion, if yours LOI says deposit should be refunded if no TA signed within 7 days, then the "opportunity cost" reason is really not valid. When the landlord accepts the GFD, they accept that there will be opportunity cost while they are engaging you in negotiating a TA. The general cleaning also doesn't make sense at all. When they rent out to another tenant, they also have to incur that cost anyway.

I hope you get your deposit back.

All the best.

[missfong02]

Hi chapung,

Thanks so much for your reply.

I also have evidence (and recently found out) that they advertised the property prior to any confirmation of renegotiating the dates for a new LOI. (Our LOI states that if we dont' get EP approval by a certain date, we had to renegotiate key dates).

In our case, we updated the landlord with the EP delay and a few days later, without any response from the Landlord, they re-advertised the the property.

Did you end up going through the SCT?

Thanks.