Condo tennancy agreement

[Lee54]

Hi

I am looking at a tenancy agreement for a condo. I appreciate that these TA for expat condos are drafted very much in landlord's favour but one clause which I am told is "market standard" seems ridiculous. It relates to the minor repairs covenants which is set at $150. I don't have a problem with not being able to ask the LL to repair items of a value below $150 but even if the repairs exceed that amount, I have to pay the first $150 which is ridiculous. So if the shower or cooker stops functioning through wear and tear (and the property is 8 years old), they I have to part fund the repairs even though caused by no fault of mine. So basically, I am in effect indemnifying the LL for all wear and tear repairs for 2 years!

I am a lawyer so have heard the "market standard" many times argument before and tend to ignore it. However, it would be good to know if others have had to sign up to something similar.

Thanks

[nakatago]

Yup.

[Saint]

And strange how ever repair bill quote you will get totals, S$149.99

[JR8]

We had this repair clause in our last TA as well. I can understand it likely originates from trying to stop kiasu tenants demanding repairs every other day.

However I do not recall having to pay any contribution to repairs that cost over $150. For example one of the immersion (water) heaters above the ceiling in a bathroom had to be replaced. That involved tearing down part of the ceiling to get access, replacing the heater, making good the ceiling, repainting. We did not pay a bean towards that, which seems reasonable.

[snowqueen]

We have the same clause in our contract too and just had to pay the first $150 to have our water heater replaced in the kitchen. Luckily it was only a small one and the ceiling hole didn't need making bigger. May not be so lucky if the bathroom one goes though.

We have been in our apartment for nearly 4 years now and the development was built in 2004, although the contractor who did the water heater said it is actually older as the building was empty for while before anyone moved in due to poor market conditions at the time. Anyway, gradually over time more and more things are breaking down and I'm reluctant to renew and have to pay the first $150 of anything else that is about to break down.