Singapore Expats

hi,

who gets their FULL security Deposit REFUNDED to them when their lease ends?

And if yes, were there any troubles in getting the refund? If not, what happened to the leased property? Any damages, etc?

Thanks.

We got it refunded in full on the day we hand over the keys. It was after 7 years of staying in the place. What we damaged we fixed earlier (including sanding of the parquet in one room).
Personally I think there is a clear problem here but you also have to realize that only problems tend to surface in places like this forum so you may take this factor into account.

x9200 wrote:We got it refunded in full on the day we hand over the keys. It was after 7 years of staying in the place. What we damaged we fixed earlier (including sanding of the parquet in one room).
Personally I think there is a clear problem here but you also have to realize that only problems tend to surface in places like this forum so you may take this factor into account.

hi, thanks for sharing your good experiences. was that in a condo? did you fix/repair all the damages prior to end of lease or did you let the landlord inspect first?

rexwrx wrote:

x9200 wrote:We got it refunded in full on the day we hand over the keys. It was after 7 years of staying in the place. What we damaged we fixed earlier (including sanding of the parquet in one room).
Personally I think there is a clear problem here but you also have to realize that only problems tend to surface in places like this forum so you may take this factor into account.

hi, thanks for sharing your good experiences. was that in a condo? did you fix/repair all the damages prior to end of lease or did you let the landlord inspect first?

A condo. We fixed it before the end of the lease not involving the landlord at all. Simply the damage was pretty clear (deep, long indentations) and it was our fault.

this looks promising then.

with all these Full refunds, did you have to go through lots of trouble?

cheers,

@X9200: Hi, I am new to the forum and chanced upon this topic while searching for parquet flooring repair. I need to move out of my apartment soon. I also have some scratches on the parquet flooring (a part of it), thanks to me. I called someone to fix it. Before fixing it, he said he should be able to sand it using a sandpaper and it will be fixed. It is still not fixed and he is charging me 100+ SGD. Now he says, he would need to use a machine for the entire room and then varnish it again, so the entire room looks the same. He wants another 250+ SGD for it. I don't have a problem with paying him. But, I am worried he won't do the job properly and might cause further damage. Did you fix the problem yourself? Or, did you engage a professional? If you did engage a professional, would you have contact details for this person? I don't want to cause further damage-I am very worried about using a machine (apparently, the woond used is really good quality). Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you SO much!

monsw wrote:Or, did you engage a professional? If you did engage a professional, would you have contact details for this person? I don't want to cause further damage-I am very worried about using a machine (apparently, the woond used is really good quality). Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you SO much!

We thought we engaged a professional. I would really and honestly need to hate you to recommend them. It took us a lot of patience, persistence and health to get the floor to the acceptable shape.
You should not be afraid of the whole floor sanding - if done right it will yield in very good results. You should be afraid of the service quality, generally bad to very bad. And the first principle is - do not pay anything up in front. Pay only if you are satisfied with their job.

x9200 wrote:

monsw wrote:Or, did you engage a professional? If you did engage a professional, would you have contact details for this person? I don't want to cause further damage-I am very worried about using a machine (apparently, the woond used is really good quality). Any help would be much appreciated. Thank you SO much!

We thought we engaged a professional. I would really and honestly need to hate you to recommend them. It took us a lot of patience, persistence and health to get the floor to the acceptable shape.
You should not be afraid of the whole floor sanding - if done right it will yield in very good results. You should be afraid of the service quality, generally bad to very bad. And the first principle is - do not pay anything up in front. Pay only if you are satisfied with their job.

Thanks so much for your quick response. The problem is I need to move out by coming Monday/Tuesday. It looks like you probably spent days getting the flooring fixed. I am planning to get a survey done by Mr Wood Varnish (Have you heard of them?). If it takes more than a day or two, I would skip it and let the agent deduct it from the deposit. My hunch is he will charge a lot more for a job that won't cost more than 350-400 SGD. My landlord does not live in Singapore (I have never met him), but the agent is a smart cookie. I have another quick question- When you say the quality varies from bad to very bad, do you mean it is generally worse than the original condition? Thanks again! Appreciate your help.

Could be worse. In our case it was like this:
1. they sanded the area only - it was worse than before
2. they sanded the whole floor but got this clever idea to put matty finish where all the other floors in the flat were high gloss
3. they sanded it again and did not care to clean the floor well after the sanding so all over the floor was tons of wood chips or other debris.
Fortunately for you I do not know Mr Varnish. I think your approach and assumption are reasonable.. Do not forget to photograph every inch of the floor before handing it over.

x9200 wrote:Could be worse. In our case it was like this:
1. they sanded the area only - it was worse than before
2. they sanded the whole floor but got this clever idea to put matty finish where all the other floors in the flat were high gloss
3. they sanded it again and did not care to clean the floor well after the sanding so all over the floor was tons of wood chips or other debris.
Fortunately for you I do not know Mr Varnish. I think your approach and assumption are reasonable.. Do not forget to photograph every inch of the floor before handing it over.

Thanks again! At least this handy man I called today did not make it worse. He did not fix it and wants to charge me 100+ (I will have to give him the money, I guess), but I am glad he did not make it worse. Moving out process can be a pain. Unfortunately for me, Mr Wood Varnish seems to be a busy company and they haven't yet bothered to return the call. I guess I will leave it to the owner's agent to deduct whatever he want. I am done with stressing over it:) My new agent tells me that when you hand over the apartment, you should get handover documents signed by the agent/owner to make sure they don't charge you unreasonable amounts later. Also, ideally deposit should be refunded the same day.

From my one bad experience with Mr Varnish, I would strongly caution against appointing them for handling your wooden flooring, unless of course you dun mind paying for a terrible job. Their sales pitch is very good (gives a reasonable quote) but delivery fails miserably, at least in my case. Be warned !

bump

good luck, dude.