Required move out time by landlords

[movingtospore]

Has anybody heard that you have to be out by a certain time on the day you hand off your place to your landlord? Our agent is having kittens at the moment saying it needs to be by 4pm. Nothing in the lease agreement about that. Wouldn't surprise me if there's some law about that though, I just haven't been able to find it.

[nakatago]

No. The agent just wants to keep his schedule.

[JR8]

Usually a lease would state mid-day as the to/from times on the dates on a tenancy.

But if not I think you need to both be reasonable about it. If you have paid rent until X day that means until midnight, fair enough. If the agent needs to do an inventory 'check-out', then there is no reason you cannot move out on day X (what ever hour you wish to) and then both attend the next day to formally wrap things up, and hand back the keys.

i.e. if the TA states you have occupation until 15 Nov, it is presumed to be midnight unless explicitly stated and agreed otherwise.

[sundaymorningstaple]

And they talk about LLs being one kind!

[JR8]

And they talk about LLs being one kind!

I think the landlord/tenant relationship usually comes down to one of mutual respect. It has served me well over the years in London with only ...hmm, maybe 2 'black sheep' along the way.

In SG I think there are some factors that come into play:-
- From what I have experienced landlords are often 'accidental'. I.e. a couple get married, they keep the 2nd condo as a rental investment. This leads to landlords who treat it as a personal matter ('it was my home!'), above and beyond a business.
- It also leads to landlords who not understand the nature of their market, 'That's what I pay the agent for' [actually no it's not].
- As far as I am aware there is no landlords organisation in SG. This does not help in their education.
- Anyone can be an estate agent in SG. At least in London any self-respecting agent will strive for some kind of accreditation.
- SG market is more transient, many tenants are in/out within a few years. This has potential to exploit by rogue landlords, as tenants who have left the country are not likely to take them to court.

etc etc etc...

p.s. Just today I received notice that my longest term tenant in London is vacating.... after 15 years!!

[sundaymorningstaple]

MY comment wasn't directed at you, but at our "tenant".




/s

[JR8]

MY comment wasn't directed at you, but at our "tenant".

/s

Zoom!

Lost in translation, 'Mer-can > English

[movingtospore]

I actually think this agent is just nuts. First she asked to move out two days ahead of schedule (no!), then two weeks after schedule (no again). When I said no, we'd given notice according to the lease, two months, have a new place lined up that we're move to, etc etc, she started screeching. And hence demanding the 4pm move out. Think I will ignore it. No plans to be there till midnight but with the Movers hard to say exactly what time we'll be done.

[x9200]

This is the problem if you rely on the agents too much. With any issue I always try to communicate first directly with the LL and only if this fails for some reason I resort to the agent's help. Having a man in the middle in the situations like this hardly ever helps.
Why don't you propose your own date and time (must be reasonable so not a quarter to midnight on the last day) and consequently stick to it? Do you have your own agent?

[the lynx]

Anyone can be an estate agent in SG. At least in London any self-respecting agent will strive for some kind of accreditation.

Actually agents here need to undergo some kind of course and accreditation before they are licensed as one with their own ID number.

Happened to innocently walk past a job fair in Suntec, and someone from a real estate company grabbed me and asked if I wanted to become an agent.

[offshoreoildude]

4pm.... hmmm. Sounds like she's stuffed up and permitted the next tenant to move in before you're officially out. I hate agents and LL in Singapore... I secretly long for an expat uprising where we burn them all at the stake on the Padang...

[ScoobyDoes]

I actually think this agent is just nuts. First she asked to move out two days ahead of schedule (no!), then two weeks after schedule (no again). When I said no, we'd given notice according to the lease, two months, have a new place lined up that we're move to, etc etc, she started screeching. And hence demanding the 4pm move out. Think I will ignore it. No plans to be there till midnight but with the Movers hard to say exactly what time we'll be done.

Agent tried it with my colleague as well, but he's a belligerent barstool so he said 'Look I have the place until midnight, paid for, so it's up to me!'

The agent mellowed a little and they agreed on something like 5-6pm.

From our side, we normally try to be out a day or two early to give us the chance to tidy up our old place without furniture there etc. The trade-off is finding a place that might let us move in a coupld of days early but I have to say so far so good.