My Landlord won't return our safety deposit

[christine.nery]

Hello! I'm new here in Singapore and i need some advise.

My room mate and i are renting a room under an old couple's HDB. NO TENANCY AGREEMENT was given to her (roomie got in singapore first). we werent registered as well (They said they were waiting for me but roomie started renting out 1st if april and i only got here 15th of july). now here is what happened, i was not home and my roomie invited someone over. when our landlord saw my roomie's guest, he started shouting in mandarin and woke up her wife. bottomlike is they want us out of the house. at first, they want us to move out within 30days. after few days we received another message saying that we need to move out in 15 days. we found a new house and told them that if we are moving out, we want our security deposit AND THEY WONT GIVE IT BACK. they were basically harassing roomie that day since she's alone. they took out the fan and the also took the remote of the aircon and when i told them thru text that we can complain for what they are doing to us. they replied and said that they will fight againts my complaint and accused me of bringing men over (which never happened)

now question is, if we file this to small claims court is our chances of winning high? what can we file againts them?
-is tenancy agreement needed upon renting out? if not can we also use that to the small claims court?
-should we be registered right away?
-letting in less than 6mos is unacceptable by the law, right? help?

[tt1973]

How can your roomie and you rent a place without any Tenancy Agreement??????

1. Is there any rental payment receipt, deposit receipt or proof of payment to Landlord monthly?
2. Is there any email or message proof about this rental?

If any of the above is a Yes, you should try to lodge a claim at the Small Claims Tribunal.

[christine.nery]

I honestly thought she got everything handled. yes we have our receipts and also, yes, we have messages from our landlady from way before.

[abbby]

Give it a try and make a report. It looks like you guys were being bullied by the Landlord. Nevermind the chances, at least you try.

[The Ref]

I would just ask for a copy of the HDB Notification to rent out the bedroom and when it is not provided inform the Landlord that tonight you will be doing a search of the site to see if you are registered at https://services2.hdb.gov.sg/webapp/BR1 ... quirer.jsp and notifying them of the illegal tenency

I would then ask for your deposit back in full, plus moving costs.

https://www.hdb.gov.sg/cs/infoweb/resid ... -your-room

[sundaymorningstaple]

^^^^This!

[christine.nery]

what if my landlord refuse to send the copy of the HDB notification?

[christine.nery]

okay so i just talked to my landlord thru text. she was telling me that i wasnt registered (which i know since i only got my pass few weeks ago) but, roomie is also not registered and shes been staying with them since april. landlord also said, if we are filing for a complain, then just file the complain.

[The Ref]

I imagine this is a game of chicken, where the landlord thinks you will be in more trouble. I suggest writing to the HDB informing them that you have just found out that the tenancy is not legal and ask them their advise. You have informed them within 24 hours of finding out so you should be OK.

The LL will get into trouble and you will have plausable deniability. They havent taken the bluff so report to HDB and use that for Small Claims. (I suggest having anything valuable / important at a friends or at work). Keep all receipts including the taxis to look for a place and the time in lieu for any time off work - you may not get it as I think they will discount anything you ask for, so ask for all expenses.

I expect the LL will cave and pay you your deposit but I would ask for something else because they made you suffer

[aijo]

Your room mates should be liable for the loss of deposit since she did not have a TA with the landlord and was caught bringing stranger into the house.

All parties should sit down and communicate how to resolve and move out. Else 0 chance in getting deposit back. Try getting back at least half of it.

[JackyWilly]

This is one of the most critical problems with condos that you won't see in apartments.

[malcontent]

Back when I used to rent here, I found it to be a pretty common practice to just keep renting after the tenancy agreement has expired. From what I remember, it also seems that I would usually not pay the remaining month(s) of rent in lieu of the deposit. Maybe this was for room rentals and not whole apartments, not sure - but it seems like a good idea to hold back rent when possible, rather than of putting yourself at the mercy of a landlord here. It’s also important to do a detailed assessment with photo evidence of every little nit picking thing at the very beginning.