Nasty landlords

[pragmatic]

Update!

we went to handover the keys last night ang the owners kis got a lot of drama happening!!!

they complained that the house is not clean enough - they prefer to get their own cleaning company as they said they do not trust the one we are going to get to clean how they like it to be. - we said ok coz we also want to clean the house properly.

what pissed me of the most is while we were waiting fr them we were using their fan. then suddenly after they started pressing buttons the fan started to act up. we told them it was ok as we were using it while waiting for them. they said they it was working when they rented the place to us and now its not. they want is to replace it...

during the time they hand over the keys to us they only informed us not to use a drill to put up sumthing so we only use those stick on hooks.... then they sarted to complain that they dont want us posting anything. we told yhem that you never told us we cant.


it seems that their actions were scripted last night!!!! the moment their kids step inside the house they slready complained.

we will never rent another unit again from their kind!!!!!

[PNGMK]

thanks for the info..

when we signed the contract the LL wanted the money in cash. they decline to simply give us their account number to have it transfered.

One possible reason why they are doing this is becoz the upgrade of the hdb is near to end. new lift just outside their door is finished. i guess they want us out so that they can have the unit rented out to someone else with higher offer...

will update you guys what will happen next..

Paying in cash is aiding tax evasion. Make sure you report to IRAS that you rent their apartment (send a copy of the contract from an anon email account to IRAS).

[pragmatic]

we agreed to get a services of a cleaning company to clean the owner's house. they told us it would cost 408sgd for 6 hrs of cleaning. We ask them to deduct the amount in our deposit. it is right for them to reject our request to deduct it from our deposit? we wish for us to pay for the services first. Deposit is 1 month and it is the owner's security money for anything that needs to be deducted after the tenants leave the house...

we cannot guarantee that they will return our deposit to us with the way they are acting. pls help us...

[pragmatic]

LL's kids just sms our agent... they said that there is no deposit in the first place. they said our deposit was forfeited! they want us to give them more money for cleaning of the house...

wtf!!! we were just talking about the deposit before we left the house! their agent sms us that they have 14 days before they can give us our deposit!!! they suddenly change their tune!! we told our agent and the owner's agent that we already agreed verbally that they will return our deposit and that is why they informed us they have 14 days before they return our deposit.. now they are taking back their words????

explaining to them that they have 7 days to give us the remaining of our deposit back and they can deduct 408sgd in our deposit worth 3,200sgd for the cleaning... omg!! they are LL FROM HELL!!!!

i dont wanna be a racist but NEVER AGAIN RENT FROM XXXXXXX OWNERS!!!

[JR8]

Bringing race into it does not help. I'd also suggest taking a deep breath, as it will help you think with an ordered and clear head.

You need to ask the landlord on what grounds your deposit has been 'forfeited', as you are aware of none [it is reasonable for a tenant to expect an explanation for any deduction]. You also need to calmly, and politely make them realise that you are not going to simply walk away from the matter.

Don't kick off world war 3 (yet). Give them a simple, clear, face-saving route out of this situation.

1) Ask for an explanation
2) If not satisfactory, then state what action you require (example: 'Return deposit of $x less $y (mutually agreed deductions), within 10 business days of the date of this e-mail, by transfer to abc account/cheque to xyz address).
3) If they do not perform, write and give them another 7 days, 'otherwise regrettably I will have no choice but put this matter in the hands of my lawyers, who will also be seeking costs from you' [or something like this].
4) If no joy, do what you said you will; but also consider whether you can take your own action via the Small Claims Court, rather than via a lawyer.


The thing is here that you are probably faced with a chancer who thinks he can casually rip you off. So you have to take control of the situation: Tell them what you want, when and how. Be reasonable, but quite clear. At each step do precisely what you say you will. Also leave them a simple/wide-open exit-door out of the situation.

The point is to make the other party realize they're in a no-win situation, 'and here's your face saving exit door'...


p.s. Anything you write to them, be calm and clear. Imagine what it would sound like if you had to read it out aloud as evidence in open court (i.e. getting angry would only reflect poorly on you).

[x9200]

To add to what JR8 said, don't continue negotiations via phone or even text. Start writing to them paper letters with cc to your agent and send it via registered mail with Advice of Receipt. Let them realize you are preparing yourself for legal action and you know how to handle it.

[JR8]

To add to what JR8 said, don't continue negotiations via phone or even text. Start writing to them paper letters with cc to your agent and send it via registered mail with Advice of Receipt. Let them realize you are preparing yourself for legal action and you know how to handle it.

Agree fully. e-mail (and SMS) is perfectly legally admissible. But especially in this day and age of electronic communications, a physical hard-copy letter would be a very clear warning-shot that the dung is about to hit the fan.

[pragmatic]

thank you all for your great advice..

we handover the keys on 29th May
LL have 7 days from that day to give us what remains in our deposit as per the contract
they claimed that they have 14 days

i sms the owner's agent to enquire on what happened. why the owner's kids are singing a different tune from what their parent's already agreed upon.
no reply yet...

i sms our agent to advise them that we already agreed that they will return us our deposit and they should honor that....
no reply yet

we are planning to give them extra 7 days (total of 14 days) from the handover time to give us the remaining of our deposit.
we will also request for them to give us the official receipt of whatever they claim they deducted from our deposit.

if they fail to reply to us then we start making our request in writing.

[pragmatic]

during our meeting with the owners (mother and father) they spoke to their agent in their language (we didnt understand) then their agent advise us that LL agreed to terminate our lease but they will deduct prorated amount of their agents fee in our deposit which we didnt agree. as the meeting is going nowhere it was decided that day will end but talks regarding deduction of the agent's fee will continue before end of the lease.

come end of lease no news from LL nor their agent. when asked... they only advised that they are still discussing issue which triggered a red light to us as it seems that they are making all kind of excuses.

last May 22, their agent sent an sms to our agent that "My owner said as per contract, they have within 14 days to get back the deposit after the contract ends. So upon taking over, they will c the house condition and let me know."
- its seems that even after sending us this message they claimed that they never once said they will return the deposit to us.

we will still give them ample time to change their mind.. if still doesnt work then we will follow your advise.

tq

[pragmatic]

today is the 7th day from the handover and still no word yet from LL

[AngMoG]

today is the 7th day from the handover and still no word yet from LL

Keep reminding the agent - you should contact him about 2-3 times this week, to convince him you mean business. On last day, make it very clear that it is the last day, and they need to handover deposit or else.

But for the FSM's sake, come to an agreement in writing between yourself and the agent about the amount to deduct. Actually, during the handover, any items that are damaged/dirty should have been clearly listed in the handover document.

If no such document was created, I strongly suggest that you arrange a meeting with agent & owner ASAP to go through the apartment and agree as to what is dirty/broken, and list these clearly. This list should be signed by both LL and yourself.

If somebody else has already moved into the place, then push for the full deposit (potentially less a portion of the pro-rated agent fees), as the status of any items will be hard to verify at that point. It may also help to refer the agent to the CEA for unprofessional behavior - maybe somebody who has done that can advise on that.

[katbh]

(URL CENSORED DUE TO COPYRIGHT ISSUE)

And just a reminder. These people probably had a good beef against the landlord. After only 2 months of not payment of rent the riot police.
When did a civil matter become a riot police matter!
Very heavy handed

[sundaymorningstaple]

That's the problem in Singapore. MHA (The Home Team) always damned if they do and damned if they don't. They cannot win. Additionally, we have no knowledge of what communications may have transpired which led to the forced entry. She could very well have been in verbal communications (phone? voice?) and made some threatening remarks which was taken or mistaken as a threat against her own children so they could have used force to preclude any harm befalling the little ones. We don't know. So I am not going to judge one way or another until the full scoop comes out.

[sundaymorningstaple]

A little more than what was in the Daily Birdcage Liner...

http://www.tnp.sg/content/tenants-hell-strike-again

[x9200]

Yes, let's not judge. I don't think the local police does anything hastily replacing civil actions with reinforcement.