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House rules legal? tenancy law

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FlowD
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House rules legal? tenancy law

Post by FlowD » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 10:17 am

Hi guys I have a question, I am a student/intern here. I live in a place where the apartment is shared. Everybody has his own room. And I have absolute no idea about the tenancy law here. The house rules/conract says following:

7.1 In the interest of ensuring high level of security and safety to all tenants within the apartment premise, no residents may accommodate overnight any guest in their room without prior approval from The Management. A resident who harbors or in any way assists an unauthorized guest will be liable for a fine equivalent to a month's rental. Any resident found harboring any illegal immigrant or person (s) without a valid immigration documentation for their legal stay in Singapore will be reported immediately to the police authority.
7.2 Residents are strictly prohibited from entertaining visitor or another resident of the opposite sex in the bedroom or apartment behind closed doors at any time.
8.1 Any person caught residing overnight in the apartment without approval from The Management will be treated as trespasser and will be reported to the police for illegal trespassing. The resident caught harboring an illegal trespasser will be evicted from the Apartment with immediate effect and have their security deposit forfeited.

(The links to the complete house rules can be found at the bottom of this post)

My question is if there is something like a tenancy law which is “higher”

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ScoobyDoes
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Re: House rules legal? tenancy law

Post by ScoobyDoes » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 12:04 pm

FlowD wrote: And can they forbid that I have a female guest overnight in my room? I mean I rented the room so I can do what I want?! That is at least my understanding… Everything else is medieval. I know from one case where the 'boss' (a dubious guy) of this building enterd a room of one tenant in the middle of the night and kicked him out because his girlfriend was sleeping there.

Yes, they can kick out an overnight guest because, let's face it, you would have had to agree to the terms of the lease when signing it.

Having said that, I don't believe there would be any criminal proceedings since this is a private contract between you and the residence. All you do is break the terms on your lease, get evicted and loose your deposit.

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Post by x9200 » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 12:40 pm

The tenancy agreement and any internal rules or regulations can NOT be enforced against the law, the problem is that at least for myself Singapore is still pretty much a terra incognita and I have no idea what is allowed and what is not within such context. Surely not everything they put in the rules or TA is legal (read enforceable) but you would need probably to visit a local lawyer to figure out more concrete details. My gut feeling is that they should be right to evict you and probably not right to enter your room without your permission under the said circumstances. If they decide not to go for the eviction they probably may impose some fine but 1 full rental seems not reasonable. Now, the hard part is that at the end of the day your only way to claim your damages after they kick you out and keep your deposit would be to sue them. Small Claims Tribunal (SCT) would probably also here the right jurisdiction but then a good question is do you really want to go through all this trouble just to have your GF to stay overnight.

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sundaymorningstaple
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Post by sundaymorningstaple » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 1:04 pm

Maybe. If she's a hot chick. :wink:
SOME PEOPLE TRY TO TURN BACK THEIR ODOMETERS. NOT ME. I WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW WHY I LOOK THIS WAY. I'VE TRAVELED A LONG WAY, AND SOME OF THE ROADS WEREN'T PAVED. ~ Will Rogers

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Post by FlowD » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 1:19 pm

hmm, perhaps i have to life with that.
But i mean it is even forbidden to have a girl in the room over the day! not just over the night.

Another thing: they also write that the person which is "caught" over night will be handled as a trepasser and reported to the police. She studies here but is no sinpaporean. the question is: how realistic is it that she is indeed treated like a trepasser by the police and gets deported?! or is that just a empty threat by the landlord/housemanagement?!

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Post by x9200 » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 1:40 pm

Personally I think it is not realistic unless they can prove she knew (or should have known) about this. It is unlikely they can remove her legally by themselves but if they tell her to leave and she refuses she could be then charged for trespassing. Again, my gut feeling so rather speculative.

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Post by Strong Eagle » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 2:53 pm

FlowD wrote:hmm, perhaps i have to life with that.
But i mean it is even forbidden to have a girl in the room over the day! not just over the night.

Another thing: they also write that the person which is "caught" over night will be handled as a trepasser and reported to the police. She studies here but is no sinpaporean. the question is: how realistic is it that she is indeed treated like a trepasser by the police and gets deported?! or is that just a empty threat by the landlord/housemanagement?!
Is she legally qualified to be living in Singapore, that is, does she have the appropriate work or other visa?

If the answer is no, the landlord is obligated to check for legal residency. the rest sounds like BS to me. Bring her over, do what you want.

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Post by FlowD » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 8:12 pm

ok good to know, the worst that can happen is thal I loose my accommodation ;) btw. yes shes legaly here!

but all in all this is pretty medieval...

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Post by Strong Eagle » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 8:37 pm

FlowD wrote:ok good to know, the worst that can happen is thal I loose my accommodation ;) btw. yes shes legaly here!

but all in all this is pretty medieval...
You have to understand what can happen here. Someone rents a flat or a house. Next thing you know every bedroom is being occupied with 'renters' at 10 to a room.

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Post by x9200 » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 8:53 pm

But this is also a very conservative society and one place where it shows is in the situations like this. Ppl are here married (pardon moi, registered) and they do not live together waiting for the holy blessing. Probably a mixture of what SE said and the above in your place.

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Post by Strong Eagle » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 9:22 pm

x9200 wrote:But this is also a very conservative society and one place where it shows is in the situations like this. Ppl are here married (pardon moi, registered) and they do not live together waiting for the holy blessing. Probably a mixture of what SE said and the above in your place.
Yeh... maybe... then again, maybe not... where else can you go rent a hotel by the hour to make it with your girlfriend without your uncle looking on?

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Post by carteki » Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:40 pm

You are not staying in an apartment by yourself, but rather a student boarding house. Given that, the rules seem reasonable (and I've seen similar in western countries). If you want your gf to spend the night then I suggest that you find a place of your own (even if it is just shared accommodation). You could be fined and kicked out for breach of the rules, but nothing more.

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Post by x9200 » Wed, 08 Dec 2010 7:56 am

Strong Eagle wrote:
x9200 wrote:But this is also a very conservative society and one place where it shows is in the situations like this. Ppl are here married (pardon moi, registered) and they do not live together waiting for the holy blessing. Probably a mixture of what SE said and the above in your place.
Yeh... maybe... then again, maybe not... where else can you go rent a hotel by the hour to make it with your girlfriend without your uncle looking on?
I was told this right to my face when our HR manager refused to support application for LTSVP for my then GF. Besides, the most conservative societies never had problems with hour hotels and brothels.

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