Lease problems involving ex-employer

[Kiwi tuu]

Any advice on this problem?
Arriving in Singapore, search for condo, find one I love, negotiate with the landlord via my agent, pay the deposit, etc. 2 Years - no diplomatic clause. Employer offer to put lease in their name for tax purposes and signs the lease. Then things go wrong between me and employer and when we can not resolve issues, contract terminated (all a bit acrimonious I might add). I find new employment.

Problem - old employer refuses to assign lease to me. We want to stay. Landlord can not negotiate with us because we are not the tenants according to the lease. Old employer now give notice to landlord they wish to terminate the lease and will no longer pay rent to landlord (for the record, they owe me termination package, never paid tax to IRAS after filing a tax clearance, owe me reimbursements from when I worked there, they have cashflow problems etc, all very messy). I tried via a lawyer to get them to agree to assign the lease and take off any rent paid after termination date from the monies they owe me, with no response.

To add insult to injury, ex employer now instructed landlord to return the deposit to them if any left upon termination. I realise nothing will be due as there is no diplomatic clause and the deposit will be forteited (exactly what they want as they know it will cost me). I've been advised against just continuing to pay the landlord the monthly rent as it does not stop the ex employer from giving notice of termination. My view is as long as the landlord gets his rent every month, why would he care where it came from?

However, it raises another question - at the end of the tenancy, is there any way I can get my deposit back? Let's say the landlord returns it to the tenant (legally the ex employer) I know there is no way in hell I will see it again. Since I can prove the deposit check was from me, and never paid by ex-employer, do I have any legal right to request it being returned to me?

A right royal mess I know and let this be a lesson to all those out there who thinks it a good idea to have leases in employers' names. Rather take the cash and pay tax on it will be my advice from now on to anyone who asks.

Can anyone help with some sensible and practical advice?

[sundaymorningstaple]

Couple of things,

First of all it's doubtful that you would ever see the deposit again. Even if you could prove you paid it to the landlord, can you prove that you were not reimbursed by the company once the lease was assigned to them?

The other thing is that it is a good thing to have the lease in the company's name for tax reasons. However, not if you decide you have a falling out with the company. It would be hard to condemn the practice due to the result of one person having a fallout with their employer (regardless of who's fault it was).

I would say it was unfortunate that you signed a lease without a dip clause as well. Guess it's been a learning experience for both you and your ex-employer.

[Kiwi tuu]

For the record, ex employer and I signed an agreement that deposit was paid by me and if ever returned to me it would be reimbursed to me. Problem is just that I do not trust they will.
Non diplomatic clause is also not a problem for me, I want to stay. That is my problem - can I just continue to pay the rent whilst the contract remains in their name and how does that affect my position?