Cheated Once, Cheated Twice

Source : The Electric New Paper, 24 February 2008

# Crooked landlord cheats couple of advance rent

# When they rent another flat, same thing happens

LIGHTNING doesn't strike twice.

But try telling that to MrSubbiah Senthil Kumar, 36, and his wife, Malarvizhi V, 29.

Twice in two months, the married couple from India tried to rent a HDB flat.

Both times, they were allegedly cheated.

The couple had paid advance rental - as much as $5,200 - to two different landlords.

But both times, when it was time to move in, they found that their flats had already been rented out to somebody else.

Madam Malarvizhi, a logistics officer, told The New Paper: 'We want to let other people, especially foreigners, know that such things can happen.

'People should know there are unscrupulous landlords out there.'

The couple had been living in a rented three-room flat with their 3-year-old daughter in Woodlands for a year.

Then their landlord died, and they were given a deadline by his family to look for a new place to rent.

Last month, Madam Malarvizhi responded to an online advertisement for a three-room flat in Yishun, which was going for $1,200 a month.

The owner, whom we are not naming for legal reasons, allegedly wanted a month's rent as deposit and another two months' rent in advance.

EXCUSES?

The couple, who are permanent residents, eventually paid just two months' rent, or $2,400, to the owner as they couldn't afford to pay the full amount.

They signed a tenancy agreement on 9 Jan and were to move into the ninth-floor flat on 16 Jan.

But on the move-in day, the owner's agent allegedly told the couple that he was not ready to move out. The owner said he would do so only on 21 Jan.

They stayed at their old flat at rate of $50 a day.

Madam Malarvizhi said she called the landlord's agent on 21 Jan, but was told to move in the next day.

She said: 'The excuse was that the landlord still has not moved his things out of the flat. So my husband and I went there the next afternoon thinking we could move in.

'But the landlord wasn't there to hand over the flat. His agent was there and said he had the keys to the flat. The agent offered to let us into the flat and stay there.

'We turned down his offer as we didn't know what was going on.'

The next day, when the couple went to the flat again, they found that a Korean family had already moved in. So they left and made a police report.

Mr Kumar and Madam Malarvizhi took The New Paper to the three-room flat on a weekday evening.

Outside the flat, a note was pasted on the wall saying that the flat was rented out by the owner to a named tenant.

Inside was Korean woman and her three children - two primary school boys and a secondary school girl.

Speaking through her children's private tutor, the Korean woman, who refused to give her name, told the Indian couple that they weren't the only ones who were promised the flat.

Another family also showed up to say they were supposed to move into the flat.

DELAYS

The tutor said: 'This family was supposed to live here from 17 Jan.

'But they only moved in six days later as the landlord kept delaying the actual move-in date. He kept asking the family to give him another day.'

She said the Korean family paid seven months' rent to the owner.

The monthly rent was settled at $1,000 as the family was willing to pay so many months in advance.

Even so, the owner had been giving the family problems, the tutor claimed.

He did not move his belongings out of the flat. The owner also kept telling the Korean family that he could come back any time he wanted and they would have to move out.

The tutor said: 'This is the first time the Koreans are in Singapore and the first time they are renting a flat here. It has been quite a bad experience for them so far.'

The owner did not respond to TheNew Paper's attempts to contacthim.

It's not the end of the rental saga for the couple from India, though.

After failing to move into the Yishun flat, the couple looked for another flat and found a four-room flat in Woodlands Street 52.

But the same sorry tale repeated itself. They paid $2,800 - two months' rent - to another landlord on 6 Feb and were to move in on 19 Feb.

But they found out later that the flat had already been rented out to someone else.

Mr Kumar said they have yet to get back any money from the landlords of the two flats.

He had lodged police reports for both cases and will go to court to try and get back his money.

His family is now putting up at a house belonging to a colleague's friend while looking for another place to rent.

And Madam Malarvizhi is hoping that they don't get stung a third time.

'I am not sure what precautions to take after two bad experiences,' she said. 'We don't have any choice but to take the risk. My family needs a place to stay.'


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Dispute with landlord? Settle it this way

TENANTS involved in disputes with landlords may approach the Small Claims Tribunal.

The tribunal will first decide whether the case comes under its jurisdiction.

Tenants should also lodge a police report should their landlords not fulfil the terms of the tenancy agreements, such as not letting tenants move into the flat after payment was made.

The subletting of flats or rooms is a private arrangement between the flat owners and subtenants, said the HDB.

A flat owner can let out the whole flat only after getting written approval from the HDB.

Prospective tenants should ask landlords to show them a copy of the letter from HDB before renting.