Singapore Expats

Dear Friends

This is my true story for which conclusion is yet to come. Four family put advt on Gumtree seeking flat on rent. In response one HDB owner from tampines contacted potential tenants and has signed tenancy agreement with all including me almost at same time in period of one month. On last minute he canceled the deal with everyone with one reason or another and holds back most of good faith advance given to him(one month rent and one month deposit). Till now I have four cases in my knowledge with whom he has done it. He keep on making some excuse not to return money. He is still contacting potential tenants.

Three victims has filed the police report. Police has asked us to seek SCT help. We all three went to SCT and SCT has ordered him to return the money back in three cases. Still he has not return the money and we are still exploring legel options to get our hard earned money back. Money is just one part in such case but kind of frustration and mental trauma ( feeling to get cheated) is another part.

If anyone has faced similar scam kindly help us on our options on it.

I am also looking for a place in Tampines. Can you please let us know the block number so that we can be alert?

What kind of "Good Faith" is One Month Rent + One Month Deposit? You shouldn't be paying that until the day the LL or agent hands you the keys.

Hi Good faith( one month advance rent and deposit ) is tradition here. Before giving money we checked with friends staying here from 15 years on which they say such things does not happen in Singapore and such trust can be put. Victims include even expat staying from 6 to 7 years. When owner is real then I believe anyone can put his faith and get cheated.

I do not want to put block no since it may create certain issue for other owners in that block. Just take precaution don't give money before you get key and your entry is approved by HDB and talk with existing tenant as well. Existing tenant knew now that his owner is collecting money and cheating the potential tenants. This owner will ask you not to talk to tenant and engage any agent. I hope this will save you from scam.

I expect you informed the police that there were more parties like yours with the same problem and with the same LL at the same time. Did they explain why they did not consider it a fraud or a fraud attempt?

As i posted we all went to Police and even file single police report as well.
But Police refused to consider it as fraud or cheating case and ask us to seek SCT help. SCT as consider it as one to one case and given money order against the HDB owner. Still there is a long for us to enforce this order.
We have contacted every possible authority Police, Court, HDB, Our Embassy but still to get justice.

i think i paid some kind of good faith money to the landlord too. but it was just couple hundred dollars, just to secure the place so that he won't be renting it to other people while waiting for the paperwork to be done.

once the paperwork went through, the good faith money was counted towards my rent, and i just had to top up the balance. I engaged an agent to help me with the process.

having said that, i just found out that the agent did something fishy behind my back. i requested to rent the place for a year, he told me that the landlord wanted minimum of 2 yr lease. but when i got the chance to meet the landlord few weeks ago (as he had some renovation done at the place), he told me that he was surprise that i requested for 2 yr lease, cos he usually just lease it for a year. WTF?!

no, you can't trust an agent neither.

Pradeep Kumar Boora wrote:Hi Good faith( one month advance rent and deposit ) is tradition here.

Uhm that much? only if you're a sucker.

nanana wrote:i think i paid some kind of good faith money to the landlord too. but it was just couple hundred dollars.

Yes that sounds much more normal.

1 month GF deposit is a norm in Singapore. I always paid this and never had any problems. I guess it comes more to the way certain things are handled or the level of the rental rather than how much money is involved.

zzm9980 wrote:

Pradeep Kumar Boora wrote:Hi Good faith( one month advance rent and deposit ) is tradition here.

Uhm that much? only if you're a sucker.

nanana wrote:i think i paid some kind of good faith money to the landlord too. but it was just couple hundred dollars.

Yes that sounds much more normal.

Most expats I know ante up a total of 2 months rent for deposit and last month. It is pretty normal

scarbowl wrote:

zzm9980 wrote:

Pradeep Kumar Boora wrote:Hi Good faith( one month advance rent and deposit ) is tradition here.

Uhm that much? only if you're a sucker.

nanana wrote:i think i paid some kind of good faith money to the landlord too. but it was just couple hundred dollars.

Yes that sounds much more normal.

Most expats I know ante up a total of 2 months rent for deposit and last month. It is pretty normal

The difference is that most expats ante up this amount at the time the lease is signed. I'd never give money as "good faith" or you risk getting screwed like our OP.

Strong Eagle wrote:

scarbowl wrote:

zzm9980 wrote: Uhm that much? only if you're a sucker.

Yes that sounds much more normal.

Most expats I know ante up a total of 2 months rent for deposit and last month. It is pretty normal

The difference is that most expats ante up this amount at the time the lease is signed. I'd never give money as "good faith" or you risk getting screwed like our OP.

Agree, sounds like a bad idea all around. I'd never pay such a thing.

In Japan they had 'key money', many refused to pay it, the Japanese rarely challenge such ingrained practices. Nowadays key money is becoming a thing of the past as rents go down. Shade of things to come?....

Did you pay in cash or check? Do you have official receipt of sum from the owner?

Yes we have signed tenancy agreement and all SMS conversation with confirmation for amount paid