Originally Posted by
mr funny
Hedy Khoo: My own experience
PERILS OF RENTING
June 25, 2007
WITH property prices rising, it is common to hear housing agents talk of 'a landlord's market'.
I heard these words from at least eight housing agents when I was looking for a place to rent last March.
Rentals quoted in the classifieds for a private apartment were often the equivalent or more than the standard pay of a fresh graduate of about $2,000.
There is an avalanche of issues to watch out for, with potential pitfalls everywhere.
For a start, the descriptions of apartments are often inaccurate.
I found that the agent's description often failed to tally with the actual state of the apartment.
One studio apartment with the tagline 'compact and comfortable with old world charm' turned out to be a tiny room in an old mansion, with creaky and dusty furniture from the '70s.
The shower cubicle was so narrow that you could not turn around while you showered. And the 'kitchenette' was more like a hole in the wall.
Then there are the pressure tactics.
Most agents will tell you that you better make up your mind immediately or 'tens of other prospective tenants' will snap it up soon.
This isn't entirely untrue though. In some good locations, the apartment could be rented out within a day of the advertisement.
In many cases, it's difficult to negotiate the deal as the landlords are not even present.
In my case, one of the agents wanted me to write out a cheque for a month's rent, in the landlord's name.
He told me he would be collecting cheques from two other prospective tenants. He would then let the landlord decide which tenant he wanted. If I wasn't chosen, the cheque would be returned to me the next day.
NO GUARANTEE
He also wanted me to sign a letter of intent, without the landlord's signature.
As there was no guarantee I would get it, I declined.
And the agent's reply? Prospective tenants who did not issue a cheque would be considered 'insincere' and thus be least likely to get it.
For me, I decided to back out because there was no assurance that the landlord wouldn't take my money and run, save for the agent's word.
And I hardly knew the agent either, to trust him so much.
The agent who takes you to view the apartment may not even know the landlord as he may have another agent.
Should the landlord run away, there is little the agents can do to help since they may not have details of the landlord either.
I know because something similar happened to me too.
Like the four Indian nationals, I paid a deposit of $1,600, and signed a letter of intent without the landlord's signature, as he was supposedly abroad and accepted a receipt similar to the one given to Mr Saravanankumar.
I was told I could move in two weeks later, but that didn't happen. The agent was also of no help initially, because she went on leave.
While I was able to recover my deposit from the agent eventually, I was still left in the lurch three days before I was scheduled to move.
Fortunately I found another apartment, although at a higher rent and at a less convenient location.
So what can be done to protect tenants in a landlord's market?
With the en-bloc fever, tenants also stand to lose if the building is put up for sale because most tenancy agreements have an escape clause for landlords.
But there may not be any such escape clause for tenants. If tenants sign for a two-year lease and break it, the landlord keeps the deposit.
While there is the Institute of Estate Agents, which aims to protect the interests of estate agents as well as members of the public who engage their services, there doesn't seem to be a body to regulate landlords.
In the rental market, it is very much left to tenants to navigate their way through property agents and landlords while figuring out the rental procedure and bearing the risks involved.
Perhaps it is time to regulate the rental market and provide clear guidelines for the process. Until then, the only alternative left for aggrieved tenants would be to approach the Small Claims Tribunal to recover their money.
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I shall just stop there!
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