Just want to leave a rant/warning story here.Don't repeat my mistake
I rented a room - the landlord now posts the ads in carousell, but they used to post it in roomsdb - for 8 years.
In the beginning, all seems good. The landlord and the house manager, the nephew was nice. The flatmates all quiet friendly. I was even introducing two other prospective tenants to the landlord. So I stayed long, which now I think is a huge mistake.
Then, after covid, the daughter took over and things changed. My room was entered without permission a couple of times, and my things was shoved to the floor.
The common area was cleaned once a month instead of once a week and the mail rarely taken unless asked (they dont give us tenants the mailbox key, but originally promised to take it once a week). The rent was increased and the way she told me was that rent increased, if I didnt want to pay more I got one month to leave (before I even said anything). When there is issue, the message is replied late.
There was also some frissions between tenants that after we spoke ourselves, was cause by house manager's bad communication.
Now I am moving to my own place, and wanted to not renew the contract. I naively thought, given that I have stayed 8 years, this would be a standard process with no drama.
1. They asked me for aircon cleaning fee of the whole 8 years in one lump sum. For 8 years, they never asked for this money. I dont mind paying the fee, but the total is almost 1000. Shouldn't they ask for this everytime the aircon was cleaned or at least once a year? I also got no proof if the aircon really cleaned that many times as actually I remembered it being cleaned less during covid time. Plus I am sure 8 years ago aircon cleaning cost was less than now
I am sure, not all tenants is on good position to have this spare sum in cash. they told me this is tenant's problem and not landlord's. But this won't be even an issue if they have proper management. I even asked around and everybody told me this is not how it is usually done.
2. They told me, they dont want to cut this from my deposit as the deposit would not be enough otherwise to cover any damage I am responsible for. They said this before they even see if there is any damage and how much.
They can actually find out if there is any damage first on my last day, and communicated how much I need to top up if any, for example. I feel that they want to take both my entire deposit and the aircon cleaning money.
Another reason for my suspicion is what happened to my flatmate. She used a cable extension provided by the landlord, and the item was broken. the fridge was damaged. The fridge was a 20 years old or more fridge, that couldnt freeze any icecube but kept on getting icecicle. Even if the landlord wanted to charge, it should be a token sum given the appliance was dying. But they forced her to buy a new branded fridge.
Another friend living in the same landlord's other property, got issue with the lift that is not working and the water pressure that was so bad, there was days when they couldnt take a bath or wash clothes. Nothing done, and no compensation given, given that when all of the tenants renting the unit, it was the price of a unit with lift access and running water.
Given all those cases, unfortunately, I dont see any possibility that the landlord actually still have good intention...
What I learned is
1. No matter how nice the landlord seems at first, it is better to keep accounting of every single issues you encountered, report you made they never responded etc etc. If necessary, took stock and pics of the condition of the items and appliances when you moved in, especially if it is not brand new. Just because they were nice at first doesn't mean they will stay so
2. To be honest, if it is possible at all, better to buy than rent in Singapore. Although I understand that there are many things that may made this not or not yet possible
3. Do not stay in one place for too long. Honestly, I probably could have find a better rental along the years for cheaper. And now I suspected that they would count any fair wear and tear as issues to take my whole deposit. 8 years is a long time (longer than HDB MOP!) and it is impossible that a place, no matter how well taken care of, to have no wear and tear.
4. Don't rent a unit or a room in a building where most of the occupants are tenants. This is because, if anything happened to the building that need a lot of maintenance, as in my friend's case, especially if it is a private apartment, the owners might not care enough to pay the cost, as they are not living there themselves and during renovation they might even lost tenants
I moved in with good will 8 years ago, thinking that we can be both be fair and decent. I thought when I moved out, it would be a standard process (I have rented in other places before). Now I think I made a huge mistake staying on this rental place for so long...
