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My friend’s renting experience of La Fleur unit#04-01

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Pal
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Re: My friend’s renting experience of La Fleur unit#04-01

Post by Pal » Sat, 09 May 2015 2:41 pm

"Let me know if you have any questions about renting this house or the area, and I will be glad to assist."

Is this an ad? An invitation for an offer?
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Re: My friend’s renting experience of La Fleur unit#04-01

Post by x9200 » Sat, 09 May 2015 3:58 pm

fox99y wrote:A close friend of mine rented La Fleur unit#04-01 for a year. He shared with me his unpleasant experience after he vacated recently.
The owner of the unit, a younger Indian (Tamil), is very particular about the assets being rented out. That includes every single square inch of the walls, doors, kitchen table, bed frame, mattress, flooring, glass, and all other small or big accessories. That means when you will be leaving the house after a year of tenancy he would want it to be brand new, after you have paid about $25,000 in rental.
My friend was the first one to rent this unit out. Most of the furniture provided was second hand, apparently disposables from the landlord’s house. Later on, my friend couldn’t miss the rental transfer or aircon maintenance, or else he would receive stringent hourly follow-up. The noise, dust and mosquitoes from the never ending construction site across the road are equally unbearable. To my knowledge that’s a struggling project which will go on forever.
Finally, my friend left the unit in a very tenantable condition with minor wear and tear. But the landlord (and his agents) deducted a large portion of the security deposit and returned the change to my friend. He did not protest due to other important engagements but I hope another tenant interested in this house doesn’t go through such experience. Let me know if you have any questions about renting this house or the area, and I will be glad to assist.
You don't sound too convincing. Looks like just a vindictive posts with no details supporting any claims. Besides, "very tenantable" sounds already bad enough for a 1 year old unit.

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Re: My friend’s renting experience of La Fleur unit#04-01

Post by sundaymorningstaple » Sat, 09 May 2015 6:59 pm

In addition to that, the poster is a serial complainer. All over hungrygowhere complaining about every place the poster has been to. Nothing complimentary at all, so I discount everything the poster is saying. In fact, I reckon he is "the friend".
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Re: My friend’s renting experience of La Fleur unit#04-01

Post by JR8 » Sat, 09 May 2015 8:06 pm

Fox99Y: A close friend of mine rented La Fleur *** for a year. He shared with me his unpleasant experience after he vacated recently.

I object to your identifying the unit, and furthermore going so far as to mention the landlord’s race as well. This reflects perhaps more upon you, than your tale about the landlord does him/her.

It’s quite simple. A tenant is entitled to occupy a property with the assumption given that it will be subject to ‘Fair Wear and Tear’. That is a legal definition, and means loosely, the expected wear and tear that comes from normal occupation. It can be subjective and a source of dispute because:-

- In my experience, a lot of tenants have the belief they are perfect/model tenants; i.e. they have no concept of the dividing line between Fair
Wear and Tear, and damage that is beyond that allowance.
- I once had a tenant who, without asking, painted his bedroom metallic purple, and he couldn’t understand why when he left I had to make a deduction to return it to white/off-white. As it was the flat was not lettable.

I agree that a problem can arise where it might be:
- The landlords first venture into landlording. They probably don’t imagine the things that tenants seem capable of doing to a property, some almost inconceivable.
- A brand new unit. They let it like that and imagine it’ll be returned like that. It cuts pretty deep seeing your ‘new toy’ having been, to your eyes, trashed.
- This applies also where the unit has been the landlord’s own home. Owner-occupiers cause less damage than tenant’s do: Fact. So when returned after a tenancy, the damages feel inconceivable and again cuts deep, but this time it’s even more personal.

What you have to understand as a landlord is what amounts to Fair Wear and Tear. That is why it’s worth having a professional ‘inventory and conditions report’ drawn up at the outset, and then that is legally incorporated into the Tenancy Agreement. You have the inventory clerk draw that up at the beginning, and before you take occupation you go around every item of perhaps hundreds of line items on the report. On your check-out, the report is updated and the clerk gauges any damages above and beyond Fair Wear and Tear, and also the reasonable cost of remedying any such damages. Such a process removes personal interests, but naturally costs money, perhaps why IME I never seen a 3rd party report such as that here.

When your friend took this unit he agreed to take it ‘as is’. That means together with the furniture you only now complain was old. You’re trying to back-fill a story against him, but this point has nil merit at all.

If you pay rent late you can expect to get chased. But you should set-up a monthly giro so that it never happens. Simple.
‘Hourly follow-ups’ are not reasonable IMO, but it was the tenants actions (or inaction) that triggered it.

re: Construction across the road. ‘Let the buyer beware’. Either the tenant went around the neighbourhood before signing the TA with his eyes closed, or, who knows. I’ve never lived in a building in SG that hasn’t had nearby construction that has caused me inconvenience, that’s just seems to be how it is here. Mosquitos? It’s your job, if you choose to, to report that to condo management, or the NEA – presumably you did neither.

You talk about the landlord and his agent, but you don’t mention your having an agent to represent your interests. Take this as a lesson. Of course there are routes to potential remedy, for example instructing a lawyer to act on your behalf and initiate remedial action; or taking your own case to the Small Claims Court. But instead he apparently chose not to do either since ‘he’s busy’. Therefore he has no grounds to complain.

And instead of actually doing something that might establish if the deductions to the deposit were unreasonable, you come here and take a cheap-shot, but you are (it seems) accusing the landlord of dishonesty. And you’re doing it to leave a specific searchable record of it, with your unsubstantiated allegations that could if anything only damage his interests. I don’t think I’d want to be in your shoes if he ever finds your post.

I’ve seen a few posts of this nature here before, and each time I’ve wondered what the landlord would say in reply. Either way, most of your grievances appear without merit, and no judgement can or should be made about the landlord based upon just one side of the story.
'Do it or do not do it: You will regret both' - Kierkegaard

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Re: My friend’s renting experience of La Fleur unit#04-01

Post by fox99y » Sun, 10 May 2015 10:39 am

Pal wrote:"Let me know if you have any questions about renting this house or the area, and I will be glad to assist."

Is this an ad? An invitation for an offer?
It's an experience, Pal. Sharing it to make other tenants aware what they may get into. I can't influence anyone's decision, but can share.

And I can tell about this house, building and area because I have lived there long enough. Willing to help those who do not know and wish to know.

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Re: My friend’s renting experience of La Fleur unit#04-01

Post by fox99y » Sun, 10 May 2015 10:48 am

sundaymorningstaple wrote:In addition to that, the poster is a serial complainer. All over hungrygowhere complaining about every place the poster has been to. Nothing complimentary at all, so I discount everything the poster is saying. In fact, I reckon he is "the friend".
My apology, I had no intention of offending one the appointed agents. Tenants know the qualities of vultures, they will understand what is written above. I reckon the responder had fair share in my friend's seized security deposit :) and his frustration shows that he has been unable to find new tenants despite renovating the house with my friend's money.

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