Tips For first-time Singapore Tenants
Case Studies by asiahomes.com
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, Founder, Asia USA Realty (Singapore) asiahomes.com Pte Ltd
asiahomes.com
THE SUBLETTING OF AN HDB APARTMENT
The Tenant had breached the tenancy agreement by subletting. The Tenant's friends had told her that she had done nothing wrong as the HDB (Housing and Development Board) regulations permit 6 occupants for a 3-bedroom apartment. Therefore, her friends encouraged her to hold her ground. Such well meaning acquaintances who know nothing about the laws of real estate contract cause more harm than good to the first-time foreigner tenant whose culture of sub-letting may be a common practice at home.
The Tenant's Agent was Juliet working under my real estate agency. Juliet could not resolve the Tenant's problems during discussions with the Landlord's Agent who also phoned me to ask the Tenant to get rid of the Sub-Tenants in 3 days' time.
One agent to handle the problem. I had told Juliet that there should be one agent from the same company handling this problem to avoid conflicts and misunderstandings. Juliet wanted to help her as she could communicate with the Tenant in her same language. But she could not resolve the problem over this issue of illegal subletting. The Landlord's Agent managed to get the names of the Sub-Tenants from the Tenant's son. She said she would give them to the Landlord so as to "get approval" from the Housing Board Development (HDB) which regulates rentals of the HDB apartments in Singapore.
In retrospect, this was actually a clever way of collecting evidence of subletting if you see it from my angle. The Tenant's son had provided the evidence to the Landlord's Agent as he could speak some English and believed that giving the Landlord's Agent's the names of the Sub-Tenants would help to his mother to live with peace of mind.
"Look here, Juliet," I was getting impatient with several of Juliet's phone-calls to me regarding the intractable complaints of the Tenant. "If you insist on putting your fingers into the pie, be my guest. Go ahead and deal with the Tenant's problems yourself. Too much emotions and conflicting advices from two rental agents from the same company would not be useful to the Tenant. The Landlord's Agent also phoned me to arrange for the Landlord to meet the Tenant urgently. Please do not involve me if you want to be kind and helpful to your country-woman."
Housing Agents don't get paid for doing this after-sales service unlike in some countries like Australia. Time is what realtors has and he or she gets paid for closing a case. They don't earn a fixed salary and therefore time is money to any housing agent. Juliet stopped handling the case. To handle this situation, the following must be done:
What does the Landlord want? The Landlord wants the Tenant to adhere to the Rental Agreement which does not permit subletting. The Tenant had signed the Agreement listing herself and her son as Occupants. Therefore, if the Tenant does not get rid of the Sub-Tenants, the Landlord thinks of throwing her belongings outside the apartment and lock her out.
What does the Tenant Want? According to the Landlord, the Tenant felt that she was doing "nothing wrong" in subletting.
The Tenant's Offer to Resolve This Problem. "Why don't you just give her one month's notice and return her the one month's deposit at the end of one month?" I forwarded to the Landlord the Tenant's offer to resolve this problem. One month is needed for her to find another place.
"No," the Landlord said. "Unless the Tenant compensates me for the shortfall in the rental revenue for the remaining term of the lease." The worldwide economic recession has got worse in Singapore. It is unlikely that the Landlord will get a replacement Tenant who will pay the S$3,000 for this 3-bedroom HDB apartment.
The Landlord's concerns. "I do not wish to distress the child by evicting the mother and child from the apartment," the Landlord phoned me after Juliet had stopped handling the case. I had told the Landlord's Agent to get the Landlord to phone me direct since the Landlord's Agent could not resolve the problem after giving the Tenant's Offer to vacate the premises with one month's notice and return of the one month's deposit at the end of the rental.
The Landlord continued speaking over the phone, "I do not wish to be jailed for harboring illegal occupants." In Singapore, there is a law that jails any owner who is caught renting out to illegals. I felt sorry for one poor pastor who was jailed for this offence.
I said, "There is a breach of tenancy agreement. Your agent had given you the names of the subtenants. Can you approve them as the HDB permits 2 tenants per room and the number of 6 occupants in this 3-bedroom HDB apartment? Six occupants are within HDB's rules and regulations for 3-bedroom apartments."
A letter in black and white. Before this direct phone call from the Landlord, I had asked the Landlord's Agent to get the Landlord to give me a letter in writing as to what he proposes to do in this breach of tenancy agreement. He would not write the letter and so he phoned me wanting to meet the Tenant in one evening immediately. He has lawyers on stand-by if I don't arrange a meeting.
The reason I wanted the Landlord to put his resolution to the problem in writing is that the tenant does not understand English. Talk is cheap. It is important that the Landlord's Agent does not serve as an interpreter during the proposed meeting as many comments can be mis-construed during interpretation.
It would not be a half-hour amicable chat as the Landlord's Agent told me when she asked me to arrange this meeting prior to the Landlord phoning me. To me, there seems to be only one demand from the Landlord. To get rid of the Sub-tenants or get evicted. As simple as that. The Tenant had offered to get the Rental Agreement amended to include the names of the Sub-Tenants or vacate the premises with one month's notice and return of the one month's deposit.
No room for negotiation. "No sub-letting is permitted," The Landlord spoke to me over the phone. "The apartment was rented due to the fact that the Occupants will be the mother and child. Otherwise, I could have leased it to other parties who had proposed more than 2 Occupants." The Landlord had preferred this Tenant over the others. I had emphasized the "no subletting" condition in the Tenancy Agreement to the Tenant during the signing with Juliet and the Tenant had apparently nodded her head in agreement. She liked the apartment and had paid a premium high rental unheard of in HDB apartments.
The Landlord's point of view. I understand the Landlord's concerns - too many occupants lead to greater wear and tear of the residence. So, the Tenant's Offer of including the names of the Sub-Tenants and to vacate the premises with one month's notice was rejected.
Where do we proceed from this situation? "I am not siding with the Tenant," I spoke to the Landlord over the phone. "There is a breach of tenancy agreement. The Tenant's uncle who is proficient in English will be coming to Singapore in 4 days' time."
"I cannot wait that long," the Landlord said over the phone. "I want to meet the Tenant this evening."
The problem is that the Tenant can't understand English very well. Her child who had just come to Singapore to study could speak English but not proficiently. Now, I feel that it is not morally right for the child of 12 years of age to be an English language interpreter for the mother during the proposed meeting with the Landlord. There will be misunderstandings and no resolutions to the Tenant's problems. I was also worried that the mind of the child cannot match an adult mind of the Landlord in the ways of the world. It is just unfair to the child or any interpreter to resolve this problem.
From my telephone conversation, what Mr Lee wanted was to get rid of the subtenants or get compensated for loss of rental income for the remaining term of the lease when the tenancy is terminated. There was no consideration that the economic recession had gripped Singapore firmly now. Otherwise, the Landlord would be confident of getting a replacement Tenant according to his specifications and at higher rentals.
Back to the present, how should I resolve this problem? I don't speak the foreign language. I don't want the Tenant's child or Juliet to be involved in interpretation as they would not be able to do it satisfactorily. A lot of time will be wasted. The Tenant would be very angry with Juliet for mis-communications. The Landlord was fixed in getting his ounce of flesh due to the breach of tenancy agreement.
How to resolve this problem? Is there a solution? There was one solution actually. There was the uncle who was proficient in English and coming to Singapore in 4 days' time. I asked the Landlord for his telephone number. I phoned the uncle in his country. I ensured that he phoned the Landlord by following up with a call. The uncle did phone the Landlord.
Well, the problem is resolved as far as I am concerned. I know that the subtenants are not illegals. 4 days will not be too long. This was a very a stressful case for the Landlord's Agent and Juliet as there was no negotiations. The meeting 4 days later will be the correct thing to do.
There is a limit to what housing agents can do after the signing of the Rental Agreement. The law of real estate contract binds both the Tenant and the Landlord when the terms and conditions of the lease are breached. The uncle came to Singapore and he met the Landlord directly.
"Housing agents are useless" Juliet said to me regarding this episode. There was a great interest of the friends of the Tenant to know which agency was handling her case. When there are problems, the housing agents are black-listed as in this case. Housing agents cannot resolve the Tenant's and Landlord's problems if both parties could not negotiate to get a win-win situation after a breach of the law of real estate. In this case, housing agents had spent a lot of time trying to get both parties to negotiate and earn nothing for their time spent in being helpful.
Some Singapore Landlords do not mind sub-letting but this need to be negotiated early prior to the signing of the Tenancy Agreement. The number of Occupants is of great importance to some Landlords as more residents wear and tear the apartment faster.
Once there is sub-letting breaching the Tenancy Agreement, the Landlord can evict the Tenant, forfeit the rental deposit and claim for the short-fall in the loss of rental income for the duration of the lease after eviction or premature termination of the lease. Obviously, if the Landlord gets a higher rent after getting rid of the incumbent Tenant, the ex-Tenant gets nothing from him or her. The only beneficiary in a breach of the Tenancy Agreement is the lawyer in the final analysis as both parties need to pay as much as a thousand dollars or more for services rendered.
Community Education Case Study
Tips For first-time Singapore Tenants
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