Seek for advise - LL do not want to refund deposit

[Amphibole]

Allow me to explain my case.

I have recently paid for a deposit for a room in a HDB unit in Singapore. The payment is directly to the landlord as no agent is involved in this case. The LL issued me a document titled "OFFICIAL RECEIPT" with one of the clause,

"Should tenant decide not take up the room on 8 May 2015, the deposit will be forfeited by landlord".

However, in less than 24 hours after that, I decided not to rent the room. I contacted the LL but she refused to refund the deposit to me even though it is less than 24 hours and the move in date is 5 days ahead.

Since I have not moved in and utilize any part of the room, does the LL reserve the right to forfeit my deposit ? Please advise.

[sundaymorningstaple]

Yep, sure does. According to what you just printed
"Should tenant decide not take up the room on 8 May 2015, the deposit will be forfeited by landlord".
It mean you have committed and if you wanted to back out one hour after you gave her the deposit and took possession of the "Official Receipt" with that clause on it, you have given her that right. Suck it up. You just learned a hard lesson. You can try to take her to the small claims tribunal and you might get some of it back, but legally she is within her rights.

[JR8]

At the point you paid the deposit had you signed the Tenancy Agreement? If so you're going to have no joy I'd reckon. In such a case the LL might have turned down other offers, and now has to suffer a void while they re-market it. The LLs potential loss could be larger than your 'holding deposit'.

If you had not signed a Tenancy Agreement I'm unclear what the position is. How might you be legally bound to a contract you haven't agreed, or perhaps yet even seen. But if you hadn't agreed the TA/contract why would you pay a deposit on it?

A first step is being clear in your own head, in total, what you signed, and what it said...