Singapore Expats

Hi,

I need help urgently. My lease of the private condo expired yesterday. I was working towards renewing the contract and negotiating the terms but all the sudden the owner decided no more further negotiation on Sept 30. And he is asking me to move out of the Condo within 24 hours. I do not think this is reasonable and I need time to find a new place. I have paid the Oct rent yesterday and asking him to allow me to stay till end of oct. But if he still insists that I leave the condo, what can I do? This notice period (24h or any period for that matter) is not written in the contract. Is the fact that he insists me leave even if its not written in the contract considered breach of contract, which I can use against him? He must give me a reasonable amount of time (i.e. one month) to look for a new place but how can I convince him? Is basically Landlord and Tenant Law and I am the tenant at sufferance, but am not legal profession.

am trying to seek legal advice as the same time.

Need help. Thank you in advance.

catinheels wrote:Hi,

I need help urgently. My lease of the private condo expired yesterday. I was working towards renewing the contract and negotiating the terms but all the sudden the owner decided no more further negotiation on Sept 30. And he is asking me to move out of the Condo within 24 hours. I do not think this is reasonable and I need time to find a new place. I have paid the Oct rent yesterday and asking him to allow me to stay till end of oct. But if he still insists that I leave the condo, what can I do? This notice period (24h or any period for that matter) is not written in the contract. Is the fact that he insists me leave even if its not written in the contract considered breach of contract, which I can use against him? He must give me a reasonable amount of time (i.e. one month) to look for a new place but how can I convince him? Is basically Landlord and Tenant Law and I am the tenant at sufferance, but am not legal profession.

am trying to seek legal advice as the same time.

Need help. Thank you in advance.

Oops. Well - he technically needs to evict you but you are at risk of him coming and having the locks changed.... I would try to negotiate a few days grace and move out Sat/Sun - I doubt you'll get a month if he's that adamant. Next time don't sign a contract that doesn't have a notice period or option for renewal spelt out!

PNGMK,

thank you for your reply. the owner lives overseas so he has the owner representative locally. So in this case the representative might come and replace the lock..is it...? but the point is that the notice period is too short and to me its unreasonable...

BTW, I have the new lease agreement which the owner signed and dropped it in my mail box expecting me to sign. I did not agree some of the terms such as rent increase and some other areas, but if I sign on this, this becomes in effect, so I will no longer have to move out, right?

Seems like the Landlord is quite confident he can rent the property for more money. If you object to the rent increase he wants you out quickly so he can rent to someone else at a higher price.

HDB reports, available on their web site, suggest rental costs are increasing quarter on quarter.

My Landlord is already talking about a rent increase when the lease is due for renewal and that is 6 months away!

Now our Steve breaks the record in the forum for having three identical posts consecutively!

Whoa, no idea how that happened. Apologies.

catinheels wrote:PNGMK,

thank you for your reply. the owner lives overseas so he has the owner representative locally. So in this case the representative might come and replace the lock..is it...? but the point is that the notice period is too short and to me its unreasonable...

BTW, I have the new lease agreement which the owner signed and dropped it in my mail box expecting me to sign. I did not agree some of the terms such as rent increase and some other areas, but if I sign on this, this becomes in effect, so I will no longer have to move out, right?

Correct. If you're really short on time to find a place and move take the hit for 12 months, sign it and plan ahead a bit better next time.

Well I've just heard a rumor that vacant apartments will be subjected to taxes if not rented out from Jan 2014. That should rattle a few cages and wipe away some smugness...

Saw that in this morning's TODAY on the bus to work. Yep, ought to be interesting to see where rents go from January.

Addadude wrote:Well I've just heard a rumor that vacant apartments will be subjected to taxes if not rented out from Jan 2014. That should rattle a few cages and wipe away some smugness...

It's not going to make much difference to the top end - those guys have so much money they don't care.

It might help the sub-urban condo market a bit but that market doesn't have a lot of empty units anyways.

The rent increase is about 4.5%. and there is one clause I do not understand is there is an option to break the lease with 2 months advance notice. At this time, the owner is paying the half month agent fees for the renewal period of one year. if I break the lease, I will be responsible for unexpired tenant portion.

i.e. suppose the monthly rent is SGD1000, he will pay SGD500 for the renewal period of one year. If I break the lease at 6 months, would I be responsible for SGD250 or SGD125?

Yup basically I decide to give in because seriously I cannot get out within 24h. so is my friend.

No I am not Indian but to me the way this renewal lease was handled was unfair to me. I had agreed with the basic terms on the 1st week of Sept. After that, the owner changed the terms and conditions in his favour way and signed and dropped it in my mail box just 5 days before the lease expiry. The agent never told me about the changes untill I saw the hard copy in the mail box. I was still trying to negotiate with the owner for the conditions but could not reach agreement and the lease expired. I am probably going to make a request for investigation to CEA because the way I was treated was totally unfair to me. It was totally force to sign.

You can report the negligence of your agent (if you have one), nothing more and ultimately you can only blame yourself for the situation. Next time if the TA is not signed 2 weeks before its expiry date prepare to move out.

Sure.

Thanks everyone for making comments. I always find this site useful for a local knowledge. Appreciate everyone's responses. Thank you.

catinheels wrote:No I am not Indian but to me the way this renewal lease was handled was unfair to me. I had agreed with the basic terms on the 1st week of Sept. After that, the owner changed the terms and conditions in his favour way and signed and dropped it in my mail box just 5 days before the lease expiry. The agent never told me about the changes untill I saw the hard copy in the mail box. I was still trying to negotiate with the owner for the conditions but could not reach agreement and the lease expired. I am probably going to make a request for investigation to CEA because the way I was treated was totally unfair to me. It was totally force to sign.

I don't think it was unfair but a little shoddy of the agent.