A netizen shared how he is renting a room in a shared unit and that there is a tenant who probably doesn’t shower and is unhygienic, and that the unit is starting to smell bad.
Here is the story
I signed a year-long lease for a common room in a shared unit (it was a good deal, got a great discount), all good at first, got to meet some great tenants and have a wonderful time. 3 months in, tenant who rent the master room left to go back to their home country (finished their degree here), 1 month later, a new tenant comes in, and by lord he’s the absolute worst.
Ok, for some background, he’s a big person, like 175kg++ big, and I usually don’t really care about it, but I had to mention it since I believe its one of the source of the problem. Which is, hygiene and odor. Basically, I think he barely ever take a shower, or clean his room and ensuite bathroom, even when our rent package comes with a weekly cleaning services all included. Every week he would deny the lady who wants to clean his room, even goes to the length that allowing her to clean for the first week, then submitted a complain that the lady does not clean correctly or broke something. I know this cos she told me when I asked why she never enter his room every time she cleans, and since he complained to her boss, her boss said to stay away, and I don’t blame her.
And also, the thing is, he ordered a ton of food delivery every day, yet I barely ever see him take the trash out, maybe he does it once every week or two week or so. I know this since I’ve been working from home and I had to answer the intercom to open the door for the delivery guy multiple time at odd hours (even at 12 am), which also pissed me off after the 10th time or so and I just started to not care, even when the delivery guy called 3 times.
As you can imagine, all this leads to very unhygienic conditions to our unit, the smell was so, so bad, I had to either run the AC on all the time in our unit, or open a window and doors to air the odor out, and worst is in our shared bathroom since it also shares the same plumbing. It got so bad to the point I puked multiple times.
In the first couple of weeks or so, me and the other tenant already noticed this, and we talked together with him about the odor issue and that we gently asked him to take care of himself better, and that we also offered a solution to supply the entire unit with several room fresheners. He took it ‘well’, but after that discussion, he never used the common areas anymore and stuck to his room. Then it keeps getting worse. So 2 months in, I and the other tenant lodged a complain to the landlord. The landlord took it well and understood our concern, and talked to him. The first 2 week or so after that, it got better, the odor is barely there anymore, and he’s more responsible with his deliveries and hygiene. But then it starts to go downhill again, and again, and now I just had enough.
Ok, that’s about it, sorry for the long rant. So, anyone ever encountered similar condition? I’m like 4 months away from my lease, and if I break it now, in the bylaws it says that I’ll lose my 1-month rent deposit + I had to pay back the prorated discounted amount from my original rent agreement, which is a bit much. I’m contemplating to break it and trying to make peace with the money, but before I do it, I just need to ask, am I out of luck on the money thing if I break the lease? Cos its not entirely my fault haha.
Any other Singaporeans here have experienced the same issue? What’s your story?
Netizens’ comments
Honestly I’ll just tank the 4 months and leave after. The only recourse was through the landlord, but if that didn’t work, there doesn’t really seem to have much more you can do.
If the conditions are really so bad that 4 months is unbearable, I’ll just eat the loss and leave tbh.
Try talking to the landlord one last time though to see if he can waive the deposit or something. Try to insinuate that he’s the one breaking the agreement by not providing livable conditions (not sure how this stacks up in terms of contracts and law).
