Landlord sold the flat in the first month of lease

[Jimbeat]

Hi is there anyone who can help me with this situation as my agent is ignoring my calls. I've rented this HDB flat in October 09 and signed a 1 yr lease. On the second day after i moved in my landlord brought potential buyers to view the flat. It was annoying but i beared with it after he gave me his sad story and verbally agreed to compensate me 1 month free rent after he sells off the flat. After a week he has found a buyer and from then on i lived in peace. Now, a month away from the handover to the new owner, he wants me to pay the rent which he initially promised not to collect from me or else i will have to move out and forfeit my deposit for early breach of contract. Now, I do not care about getting the 1 month free rent but I do not trust him. Can someone please help advice me legally:

1. How am i able to collect back my security deposit (he may ran off with it)
2. Am i able to continue staying (if not, apart from the 2 months notice, is the new landlord obliged to compensate me for the termination of contract)
3. Where do i file my complaints to for breach of contract

[Saint]

Is this a legal contract between you and the landlord, in other words Government approved and the legally required Stamp Duty paid on commencing the lease?

If everything is above board your lease is automatically transferred to the new owner and he/she has has to honour it.

If the contract wasn't legal as above you probably don't have a leg a to stand on as you've rented the HDB illegally!

[ksl]

Is this a legal contract between you and the landlord, in other words Government approved and the legally required Stamp Duty paid on commencing the lease?

If everything is above board your lease is automatically transferred to the new owner and he/she has has to honour it.

If the contract wasn't legal as above you probably don't have a leg a to stand on as you've rented the HDB illegally!

Landlords can also terminate a 1 year contract with prior notice and must compensate tenant with one months rent which is normal. It is the old landlord that the contract is made with, so he must compensate a months termination notice.

Contact case to see if they will oversee the conflict and get the landlords new address for you. Though they cannot do much, you will have their backing to go to the small claims court. You need your Landlords ID, so that he can be tracked through the system, when he moves.

Though many do not inform the authorities of their new address if they have debts. The law is catching up with these people and now give them jail terms or fines, which was enforced over the loan sharking rise last year, take a photo of him if possible and give him a galss of juice to collect his finger prints, save the glass! He will be in the system eventually

http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Asia ... and-Tenant

[brittanny]

hi jimbeat,

1. the landlord is obliged to return the deposit, so long there is no breach by you of any terms and conditions of the tenancy the landlord has no right to withheld or forfeit the deposit - do however note the nitty gritty like every1 else get caught at, small damages to furniture or appliance, a chip in the tiles n doors here and there blablabla. if he refuses, then you will have to file your claim at the small claims tribunal, read thru n download the form at http://app.subcourts.gov.sg/sct/page.aspx?pageid=4515

2. from your brief description, u indicated 2 mths notice for termination. this notice should come from your old landlord. u should read your tenancy whether it is formal (written) notice or plainly worded as "notice". if the latter then oral notice is permissible, if the former then there must be a written notice from your landlord

you cannot claim from the new landlord for termination of contract by the old landlord ie. the tenancy is between you and the old landlord.

however it is obvious that the new landlord knows of your existence and an ongoing tenancy, it is not in your control whether or not it is provisioned in the s&p agreement between the old landlord and new landlord. in this case, it is also obvious that when the new landlord did not ask for a novation of your current tenancy that they wish you to move out when the sale n purchase transaction completes

go step your foot down and tell your old landlord off that he is the party in early breach of contract and not you

3. i assume that your agent has done his/her duty and the tenancy is stamped. if unstamped, it is unadmissible in court until stamped (with penalty) - stamp duties act s52. if u decide to file for your claim u should get it stamped beforehand

u wish to file 2 claims - one for return of deposit and one for breach. it can be filed in one form, it is pretty straight fwd:
http://app.subcourts.gov.sg/sct/page.aspx?pageid=4515

good luck!

[revhappy]

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