Tricky landlord - house is sold as is, but want us to do..

[Buhhhu]

Good evening All,

Tl:dr Our landlord has sold the house and is asking us do to bunch of stuff before handover even though the new owners doesn’t want it as they will do a complete renovation regardless.

We (local+pr couple) are returning our rental property after 4 years, even though we would like to have extended, as the owners has sold the unit. We have an option to extend in our contract for another 1 year and we gave proper notice of our intentions, but it was ignored and they neglected to tell us the unit was sold up until 1 month before the lease expired. We have rushed to find something else and do the whole move within a rather short notice to try and accommodate the landlord. We have had varies issues with the house throughout the period where their agent has been completely unreasonable. Examples:

- First day we noticed no hot water in the kitchen - reply: oohh thats very normal in Singapore!? (turns out the water heater in the kitchen/washroom was installed, but never connected.)
- Toilet cistern is broking and leaking water - reply: ah dont use toilet, got many others in the house.
- Another Toilet bowl is senget - reply: "but still works meh?"
- Request for additional access card - reply: " you already have 2"
- makes appointment for a viewings without our consent.
- enters the house without ringing the bell or knocking on the door.
- aircon compressor keeps dropping gas (we pay for it for few times), but when we address is it - reply "its probably because u use too much aircon"

We are handing over the unit on the tmr (Monday the 5th of July) and new owners will take over on the unit on the 15th of July. The new owners are super cool and we are good footing with them (we helped to inform them of inherent issues with the house that owners agent neglected to tell them - probably in breach of the ethics of the Realestate Agents Code of Conduct). The new owners will do complete renovation of the entire place, including hacking the floors, repaint, etc to their liking.

Now to the hurdle we are facing. We have cleaned the house thoroughly, incl high-pressure water cleaning of terrace tiles, etc. BUT, the current landlord is asking us to repaint the house (~3,000sqf) and even sand and re-vanish the parquet flooring if there is any scratches. (there isn’t any beyond reasonable wear and tear).

The new owners have specially asked not to bother with even cleaning as they would do reno/A&A upon getting keys. In addition, the existing LL tried to push us to pay rent upon till the 15th July, trying to argue that otherwise the place would just be empty (doh). We where actually tempted to ask them to extend our lease to the 16th July so that we can handover the unit to its new owners instead of the current. However we know and understand that our contract is with the existing owners as per our TA.

Based on property valuations from when current landlord bought the unit and the price they sold at (the new owners told us) they are likely not making a profit beyond what they paid off on their mortgage over the past few years. Plus, our monthly rental has not been covering both interest and principal that’s for sure. I know this sounds odd wit the recent price spikes of properties here, but the unit was sold in 2011 off plan for $2.7 and now $2.75 in beg may 2021.

I am writing here in advance of what is likely going to transpire tmr and to pre-empt ourselves of what is going to happen, i.e. the Landlord holding our 5 digit security deposit hostage. Everything the Landlord/their agent has done or said so far strongly indicates that they will do anything to retain as much of our deposit.

Ill update tmr evening, but meanwhile I would love to hear some suggestions on how you would handle the situation if you where in our shoes and hear how you would tackle discussing this with the Landlord.

This is also very much just a rant that we had to find an outlet for somewhere, sorry for the long post.

[abbby]

Would you be handing over the unit to current owner or new owner? I would just follow instructions to whoever still owns the unit on handover day.

As for these:

- First day we noticed no hot water in the kitchen - reply: oohh thats very normal in Singapore!?
(Yes, its normal, only cold water)

(turns out the water heater in the kitchen/washroom was installed, but never connected.)
- Toilet cistern is broking and leaking water - reply: ah dont use toilet, got many others in the house.
(Minor repair clause comes in, doesnt matter if you use it or not)

- Another Toilet bowl is senget - reply: "but still works meh?"
(Can't be 100% straight..so long as doesnt leak or gives you a big problem, i would just leave it)

- Request for additional access card - reply: " you already have 2"
(Yes, standard that owner gives you 2, any additional you can get from management office and cost about $10, but on return do return all sets otherwise new tenant possible can't apply)

- makes appointment for a viewings without our consent.
(Should make appointment with you, this should be stated i your TA)

- enters the house without ringing the bell or knocking on the door.
(thats trespassing)

- aircon compressor keeps dropping gas (we pay for it for few times), but when we address is it - reply "its probably because u use too much aircon"
(You do your regular servicing and landlord takes care of the repairs, should have been stated in your TA)

Good luck on your handover.

[Buhhhu]

To the current owner herein the complication of having to make amendments that is completely unnecessary as they will be redone in 15 days.


The first 3 items was advised to agent within the 30 days "warranty" period. All these issues where resolved, but it was the constant excuses for not wanted to resolved that did our heads in.

I have lived at 6 different developments here in Spore and this is the first time we come across the "not water in the kitchen is normal" comment, if that really is common then ill rest my case in that aspect.

Broking cistern, I should have clarified, they applied silicone to the crack to stop the leak and then argue we should refrain to use to avoid it getting worse.

Senget toilet - we not talking a loose toilet seat or a slight slant to one side, but a ~20-30% forward tilt (wall mounted toilet).

Its 5beedroom house + helper, 2 access cards should be sufficient? We where ok to pay for the extra access cards but management said owner had to pay and arrange as otherwise we would "own the cards" for future access even after we left the development.

[PNGMK]

Your lease is not terminated just because the house is sold by the ways, esp if you've not been given adequate notice as per the TA. The contract is the contract and it sounds like the LL is in breach.

I would be counter demanding assistance in removal costs, temporary accomodation and monies towards the next agents fees.

I would not pay a single cent towards anything (including rent) anymore. Let the LL try to recover it in the SCT and then counter claim for breach of contract.

[malcontent]

If the LL is being a fuss bucket about things that don’t matter, more than likely it is because they are fishing for any excuse to keep some of your deposit. Don’t expect common sense, expect greedy pigs.