Renting a room in Singapore is often easy but sometimes we might get bad housemates or landlords.
Mr Xu, a 20-year-old Malaysian who is working in Singapore rented a room at Hougang paying S$500, little did he know that his nightmare has just begun.
Initially, the landlady seems fine
After moving into the home, the landlady changes from “seems fine” to completely ridiculous, the female landlady gave a list of strict rules to follow and it was so unbearable that Xu has already decided to not stay in the Hougang unit anymore.
According to Shin Min Daily News, The landlady implements more and more rules over time.
In the initial stages of moving into the rental unit, there were only standard rules such as basic hygiene and cleaning that were set up verbally by the landlady.
A rules list was later given out to the tenant stating the following
The Owner agreed – The tenant/s to do; such as: Hot water for refreshment, reheat food with microwave or for bowl /cup instant noodles, as well the toaster, small grid of refrigerator and water heater can be use by tenant.
The Tenant shall hold responsibility to clean and tidy up** dry up** the kitchen/bathroom/toilet immediately after used – when mess-up by the tenant.
The Tenant shall hold full responsibility to bear and buy own personal items/stuff for daily needs, as well as toilet paper; dish/hand liquid; laundry liquid for * front loading washing machine *; laundry hanger and clips etc…etc…
The Tenant agreed to use ; the washing machine when full load ( 7 kg ).
The Tenant will Ensure the Power of Electrical equipment has cut off always/all times after used; as well the gate is locked before leaving the premises in each time.
The Tenant will not smoke/drink ( liquor ) or deliberately destroy anything that does not belong to their own within the premises. OFFENDER will be driven away immediately and deposit will be confiscated.
Upon the expiry of sooner termination of this Agreement to yield up the room in good and tenable condition with all locks, keys and fastening complete.
Drying of Toilet $3.50 service fee
The landlady would often find fault with the tenant such as closing or opening doors too loudly and complaining that he has a strange smell.
The landlady even told the tenant to dry up the toilet after using it, on one occasion the landlady forces the tenant to pay $3.50 because she had to wipe the toilet dry for him.
After staying for two months Xu could no longer bear the the landlady and decided to move out. However, he could not get his $500 refund and he has made a Police report against the landlady
Landlady has “evil” track record
Xu took to social media to express his frustrations only to find 10 other tenants who were in a similar situation as him and almost all of them did not stay longer than two month with the same landlady.
One of the tenants was also chased out while another was suddenly told to pay an additional $50 for rental.