I rent one out of the two rooms of his, and have renewed the contract multiple times. Originally signed the first contract with another friend (co-habit) until she left Singapore for good. So to speak, I have been with him for up to 4 years.
Throughout the years, my landlord would engage a professional to maintain and service all the air-cons in the house.. about twice a year. And this servicing cost was always borne by him.
Mid last year, the air-con in my room stopped producing cold air. The first time the technician dropped by, they pumped or refilled the gas. It was cold again for a month and then it went back to being useless.
The technician reassessed the air-con and advised my landlord to replace the compressor.My landlord is unemployed (and he has been this way for God knows how long) so whatever he gains from rental is his 'monthly gross'. He told me that he does not have enough cash to repair it at the moment, so I lived by without air-con for close to 5 months whilst still paying rent inclusive of air-con.
Within these 5 months, I've consistently asked if he was going to fix the air-con, to which he said no and that he has no intention to do so. When I finally decided that I have had enough and wanted to move out, he informed me that he will replace the compressor and so... I decided to remain.
After about another month's wait, the air-con was back to being fully functional and cold again... just for a mere 2 weeks. And... you've guessed it. IT'S NOT COLD AGAIN!! The process repeats... technician assessed the situation and pointed out that there is a gas leak and advise us to replace the pipes which will cost an additional few hundred bucks. Again, my landlord is telling me that it may take some time to gather the full sum. My reply to him was by when would he be able to fix the problem and after communicating in between he brought up that his property agent friends told him that as a tenant, I should be the one bearing maintenance fees and not him.
I do know that if I were to rent the whole unit, tenant would have to bear the costs of about a 3 month air-con maintenance cycle. But what about as a live-in tenant? My contract does not state anything about this. When I first moved in, there was also a verbal agreement between us (with my friend) that he would bear all maintenance costs which he have been doing so up till now.
I just want to know more about this should he one day try to point the costs back to me... things such as gas leaks due to damage of pipe should not be labeled as air-con maintenance right? Can he blame me for this problem? I have never been negligent on air-con usage... just very basic use like turning it on from 9pm till 7am when I am sleeping.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post
