This is the first time I rent a place in Singapore, and I have got a serious problem 3 days after moving in the responsible agent going AWOL.
Please let me know if I have enough ground to get this settled in SCT since I'm not sure how things work here.
I considered bringing it up to SCT but a couple of foreigner friend here told me that it will be a long painful process, that it will just add insult to injury as they will ignore my arguments.
This is about aircon restriction. Before signing the contrat, I had confirmed several times with the agent that aircon usage is not hour-restricted and the answer was NO, it's not.
I also asked the landlord directly by traslation of the agent, if there's any kind of restriction whatsoever that I needed to know. They just mentioned no cooking except light cooking and no visitor.
But 2 (two) days after moving in, the landlord told me that there's a restriction on usage of aircon. It may only be turned on after 10 PM. I refused that, naturally, and tried to assure them that I would be reasonable anyway.
The next day I found out that they have newly set timer, making me completely powerless. They reasoned that it is their house rule that I must obey, that it had been informed verbally to the agent prior to contract, and if i dont like it I'm welcomed to find the agent myself. They wont negotiate the term, starting that if I'm not happy I can move out. But there is 6 month minimum stay claus inthe contract, meaning that I'll risk 2.5 months pay (1 for rent + 1 for deposit + half fro agent fee) for a 4 night stay.
A couple of friends sugested to try to compromise the term with landlord, or just suck it upa and live out the 6 months. Since, they warned me, the contract doesn't mention the right for "unrestricted use of AC".
Well, I am confused here, the contract also doesn't mention the unrestricted use of use for the beds, wardrobe, etc, either. It should be one that's not mentioned is not regulated, or is it the other way around in Singapore?
Besides, the landlord had had abundant chance to state their so-called house rules directly to me before contract, as they did with other minor requests. But this elephant in the room, this time restriction on aircon, just slipped their mind ? And it is the tenant that should just pay for the miss?
And can I do with the missing agent? I had her name card only.