am i getting scammed

nick222 · Post by **nick222** » Sun, 13 Dec 2015 1:36 pm

i have recently moved out of my condo on november 30th and did full handover however the landlord and i agreed to wait 14 days for the deductions of aircon service and cleaning which was stated in the contract....as for the aircon service i was paying 35 a unit of 4 units being $140 and i get a bill for $390?..do i have to pay for gas top up and special chemical cleaning?..so if he gold plated them i would pay for that as well?.....the main thing however is after 12 days (december 12th from handover from 30th of november) i am sent a photo of a cracked marble top counter which he is blaming me for doing and has deducted 1900 from my 2 month deposit.....i did not do the crack and it was after 12 days....do i need to pay for this?

ecureilx · Post by **ecureilx** » Sun, 13 Dec 2015 7:58 pm

nick222 wrote:i have recently moved out of my condo on november 30th and did full handover however the landlord and i agreed to wait 14 days for the deductions of aircon service and cleaning which was stated in the contract....as for the aircon service i was paying 35 a unit of 4 units being $140 and i get a bill for $390?..do i have to pay for gas top up and special chemical cleaning?..so if he gold plated them i would pay for that as well?.....the main thing however is after 12 days (december 12th from handover from 30th of november) i am sent a photo of a cracked marble top counter which he is blaming me for doing and has deducted 1900 from my 2 month deposit.....i did not do the crack and it was after 12 days....do i need to pay for this?

If you didn't take pictures when you left, tough luck proving you didn't damage the counter.

Maybe he is using your money to replace the top.

Gas refill ? That's a grey area and you should look up the original agreement as to what is meant by service, and challenge him that the gas top up supply be under repair.

Chemical cleaning etc, again, unless it was mentioned in the contract, is not for you to pay, chemical cleaning is redundant if you have been doing the regular servicing / cleaning.

But if the contract said somewhere that you must do chemical cleaning at the end of the lease, at your cost, ... no comments.

JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Mon, 14 Dec 2015 4:59 am

nick222 wrote:i have recently moved out of my condo on november 30th and did full handover however the landlord and i agreed to wait 14 days for the deductions of aircon service and cleaning which was stated in the contract....

At this point [official hand-over] was any damage to a worktop noted and agreed as having been caused by you?

nick222 wrote:as for the aircon service i was paying 35 a unit of 4 units being $140 and i get a bill for $390?..do i have to pay for gas top up and special chemical cleaning?..so if he gold plated them i would pay for that as well?.....

Did your TA require you to be in a periodic service contract. Who paid for, and arranged this last check?

nick222 wrote:the main thing however is after 12 days (december 12th from handover from 30th of november) i am sent a photo of a cracked marble top counter which he is blaming me for doing and has deducted 1900 from my 2 month deposit.....i did not do the crack and it was after 12 days....do i need to pay for this?

As above, what was noted and agreed on the day you checked out and handed over the keys?

Are you still in SG, and if so for how long, for the 'foreseeable' future? ... it can matter when some LLs imagine they can shaft you since you're leaving or have just left, and hence can do nothing.

PNGMK · Post by **PNGMK** » Mon, 14 Dec 2015 11:32 pm

For future reference I would NEVER recommend accepting a refund of deposit after inspection. Tenants should insist a cheque or cash refund be provided at handover/final inspection JUST AS THE LL expects you to have a cheque or cash in hand when collecting keys (note that cheque fraud / bouncing is regarded as a serious crime in Singapore).

RedRidingHood · Post by **RedRidingHood** » Tue, 15 Dec 2015 10:49 pm

PNGMK wrote:For future reference I would NEVER recommend accepting a refund of deposit after inspection. Tenants should insist a cheque or cash refund be provided at handover/final inspection JUST AS THE LL expects you to have a cheque or cash in hand when collecting keys (note that cheque fraud / bouncing is regarded as a serious crime in Singapore).

Usually refund of deposit is within 14 days after handover and its stated in all the TAs I had so far.

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RedRidingHood · Post by **RedRidingHood** » Tue, 15 Dec 2015 10:52 pm

nick222 wrote:i have recently moved out of my condo on november 30th and did full handover however the landlord and i agreed to wait 14 days for the deductions of aircon service and cleaning which was stated in the contract....as for the aircon service i was paying 35 a unit of 4 units being $140 and i get a bill for $390?..do i have to pay for gas top up and special chemical cleaning?..so if he gold plated them i would pay for that as well?.....the main thing however is after 12 days (december 12th from handover from 30th of november) i am sent a photo of a cracked marble top counter which he is blaming me for doing and has deducted 1900 from my 2 month deposit.....i did not do the crack and it was after 12 days....do i need to pay for this?

I will not pay for the cracked marble top. If during handover they did not notice that it's either not serious/obvious at all, or not caused by you in the first place. Maybe you can bring this up to the small claims court?

Usually I will take pictures of almost every nook and corner as the landlord/agent looks through the place during handover. I have had a few rude stares from them before, but after a terrible experience with a LL once, this has become a must-do.

Luckily I just bought a HDB, and soon to be rid of troublesome and greedy LLs!

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JR8 · Post by **JR8** » Wed, 16 Dec 2015 12:02 am

RedRidingHood wrote:Usually I will take pictures of almost every nook and corner as the landlord/agent looks through the place during handover. I have had a few rude stares from them before, but after a terrible experience with a LL once, this has become a must-do.

Agreed. I photograph everything. At least 100/+ pics during check-in. Floors, walls, windows, curtains, furnishing, fixtures+fittings. Any marks, any damage, any scratch, chip.... anything a thieving landlord might try and claim I caused I'll document. Then I make copies of the whole lot and put them on a USB stick kept off-site. property agents seem to *hate* this; in fact last time in SG the agent got very agitated indeed. BUT we all know what can happen if you don't take precautions, which is what I told her. And I saw it as no different, in fact far more honest than her initial position, the preposterous suggestion that 'everything is perfect and like new, right?'.... phhh

RedRidingHood · Post by **RedRidingHood** » Fri, 18 Dec 2015 5:17 pm

JR8 wrote:
RedRidingHood wrote:Usually I will take pictures of almost every nook and corner as the landlord/agent looks through the place during handover. I have had a few rude stares from them before, but after a terrible experience with a LL once, this has become a must-do.
Agreed. I photograph everything. At least 100/+ pics during check-in. Floors, walls, windows, curtains, furnishing, fixtures+fittings. Any marks, any damage, any scratch, chip.... anything a thieving landlord might try and claim I caused I'll document. Then I make copies of the whole lot and put them on a USB stick kept off-site. property agents seem to *hate* this; in fact last time in SG the agent got very agitated indeed. BUT we all know what can happen if you don't take precautions, which is what I told her. And I saw it as no different, in fact far more honest than her initial position, the preposterous suggestion that 'everything is perfect and like new, right?'.... phhh

Haha yes one agent was really annoyed with us too. But we all know whose side he will take when there's a dispute.

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