My flatmate and I (both Indian, female, PRs, working professionals) moved into a condo in central Singapore earlier this week. The management and security have taken it upon themselves to make life incredibly difficult for us. I’m genuinely wondering whether these are new condo rules in general or whether
1 — anyone visiting the unit, including food delivery agents, can’t just call our unit for us to buzz them in. They need to sign in at security, write their phone numbers and NRIC before they can be allowed to punch in the unit number at the intercom. Two friends visited us to give us some food, and they were also asked to sign in and give their NRIC details and phone number before being allowed to buzz in.
2 — during our move (the movers paid a hefty deposit plus we paid a non-refundable fee for lift padding, which is normal), we were given a time slot between 2-5pm, but the security removed the lift padding well before 5pm and without checking with us if any other deliveries were coming in. Then scolded us when we had other smaller deliveries coming in before 5pm.
3 — I had a small delivery this morning for a chest of drawers I bought from Carousell. (70cm L x 40cm D x 67cm H) and I was asked to pay a non-refundable deposit for lift padding as this is considered a bulky item. When I said it was just a single item, the building manager told me extremely rudely “You play by MY house rules, ok?” Similarly, my flatmate was scolded by the security for bringing in a chair.
4 — when entering or exiting the building we are constantly questioned where we are going, which unit are we in, etc. I understand we are new and they’re not familiar with us yet, but we have access cards that we’re using to get in and out. And constantly watching us. The interrogation seems so intense and making our move and stay in a rather beautiful apartment extremely unpleasant. And especially paying so much rent, the least you’d want is to be able to get in and out of your home feeling safe and peaceful.
5 — Speaking of access cards: we were asked to submit our NRIC to the management to link the access cards. Is this normal? I mean, none of this is, but I’ve been in Singapore 13 years and lived in condos all over the country and never faced this before. Feels like we’re being watched and it’s kind of creepy.
6 — The management and security have just been extremely rude to us and have yelled at us multiple times and said things like “what business do you have moving into this condo?” And “this is MY estate not anyone can just come here” etc. I asked a neighbor in the lift today if the management is strict here and she said “no it’s pretty easy going, you can do what you want”. We are in half a mind of moving out already (we’ve barely finished unpacking 😩).
We genuinely don’t know what to do. The agent herself said that if it was her she wouldn’t live here, and our landlord apologized for the way we were treated. But they’re not the ones being subjected to the scrutiny every single day. Even other delivery agents have remarked at how harsh and strict the security and management have been. The management company has some really pathetic reviews on Google too.
This is definitely not how all condos are, cause we’ve lived and visited enough condos to know it’s not. But I’d like to hear if anyone has had similar experiences or that these kinds of rules are becoming more common these days.
Edited to add: I forgot to mention: Our lease began on 28 Jan. We weren’t allowed to come in with our suitcases over the weekend. Because we didn’t inform the management and security. What happens when someone travels out of the country and comes back with a suitcase??? What then??