I have lived in two places in Singapore and never paid the agent's fee. The first was $4500 and this current place is $3350 - so the rule regarding the rent being X amount denoting who pays the fee is rubbish and I even called the governing body to check. It's purely down to you and the agent to agree.
I searched through the usual web sites - ., st
property etc and arranged the viewings myself - the agent didn't do anything. I am up front from the start and so are they regarding the fees. I tell them that we are not financially in a position to pay 4 x the rent amount and that the agent must pay the agent fees. Whenever the agent has told me that I should I just tell them sorry I can't do that. Once I had a call back to say the LL would pay, and the 2nd I didn't hear back from.