Premature termination of tenancy agreement from landlord without a breach from Tenants

[greattenant]

Hi there,


Question that we are seeking for help, thanks in advanced for taking time to read:
Can landlord terminate a tenancy agreement contract prematurely giving a one month notice without a solid reason/breach of contract on tenants part, as well as zero compensation? There is no compensation clause mentioned in the contract both for tenants and landlord.

Background:
We rented/ renewed HDB lease for 18 months and landlord is giving us one month notice to leave the premise, 10th month into the lease (we have renewed once, so this is the continuation after renewal). There is no breach of contract on our part and we have been great tenants (husband and I) where we were never a day late for rental payment, and keep the unit well. Stamp duty was paid by us.

Recently there is a home improvement project where we asked Landlord to compensate us 2 weeks of rental waiver after finding out how inconvenient it would be for us paying tenants during the 2 weeks. We would like to rent a hotel room (as there is no other short term alternatives) for that period of time to avoid being in the renovation mess. We feel that this is a fair ask, as we are paying rental for a full functional unit as per contract, and we do not want to live in the mess, tolerating the dirt, dust, noise, strangers coming in and out. Landlord disagreed with it and kept mentioning that HDB maintained the unit is "tenantable" if residents confined themselves in the second room (this is a 3 room HDB, 2 bedrooms). They eventually mentioned they will do us a Good Will favor by giving us a one week waiver, OR, we should just leave after one month notice from them. Just to add on, we have agreed to pay a higher rental initially only if at least 18 months contract is signed, these are all documented in whatsapp conversation.

We find the so called Good Will compensation unreasonable. First of all, nobody should be doing anybody a favor here when a contract is involved. All we wanted to do is not to find loopholes and gain from this, but to seek for what is fair for us. We have requested for 2 weeks because the upgrade works take 10 days, and in between there is a messy weekend, plus the weekends beginning and at the end of the whole saga.

We will be replying to Landlord, turning down the offer. We have called up Community Mediation Service, Small Claims Tribunal, and Community Justice centre for brief enquiries in case it has to reach the stage where we need these support. Since we are not filing a case yet, so there is no detailed explanation of our issues. We would thus like to check in this forum if anybody has a confirmed answer or passed experience where Landlord terminates a contract prematurely with a month notice given but nothing else, yet off the hook? if that is the case, i wonder what is the contract for Thanks in advance.

p/s: Kindly please provide your comments if you think it may be helpful to us as we are already under tons of distress, so prefer not to entertain unrelated matters, many thanks and much appreciated!

[PNGMK]

If the TA allows the LL to do so (provide 1 months notice without reason) then you're out of luck. If it doesn't then you can push back but frankly I would cut your losses and leave.

[greattenant]

Thanks for the reply PNGMK.

The TA did not mention any of such clause specifically. No compensation clause nor exit clause were in the TA, that's why we feel that they are breaching the contract, even with 1 month notice given to us. We have showed Landlord (well, it was landlord's sister that had been managing this and we have not met up with landlord couples nor spoken wiht them as the sister always said they are extremely busy, though in TA it was landlords' names) our version of TA before renting, which includes such a clause but they refused to add on.

We initially agreed for such a length of contract and also increased of rental (above median price of the area) because we have a plan of moving to our own place after such period. This was all agreed and documented in Whatsapp conversation. We feel that landlord is taking advantage and being really selfish. The sister even question us why they should compensate as HDB mention the place is "tenantable" even when renovation is going on. They then agreed to give us 1 week of compensation out of "Good Will" after lecturing us how they have provided us new couch , new washer, fixed up their kitchen before we moved in etc when we have paid for a fully furnished unit with these items agreed upon- to be honest, these are not expensive items at all we have checked. There is no good will nor favor in this. We feel deeply troubled and taken advantaged of. We have no alternate living but to rent a hotel which will cost more than a mere 1 week of compensation out of "Good Will". We have been really reasonable and good to deal with as we cooperated in each and every matter they asked for. Though, we feel that by them asking us to leave if we do not take up the offer is a violation to the contract. We would like to be sure that it is our right to stay on as long as we are not breaching the contract, eventhough they have given us 30 days notice.

Thanks

[PNGMK]

I think the termination here probably just falls under normal contract law. You could fight it by claiming damages and taking them to the SCT.