Foreigner shocked at landlord’s ‘rental rules’ including double charges if SG goes into lockdown

Singapore—A foreign renter posted about the unusual additional charges his landlord imposed during lockdowns or when he goes on medical leave, asking whether other homeowners do the same.

On the Singapore Renting a House~Malaysian@ iLiveSG.com Room For Rent Singapore SG Facebook page on Sunday (June 6), a man named Ping Hai wrote in Mandarin a list of unusual fees his landlord at a Jurong flat was asking him to pay.

The renter wrote that his regular rent is S$400 per month, which when broken down amounts to S$13.33 per day. This arrangement was based on working six days a week, with only one day off.

He agreed to this via phone call with the landlord, and then found out about additional “rental rules” that meant he still needed “to pay extra.”

The “rental rules” include.:

If Singapore goes into lockdown, the renter is charged an additional S$400, or double the rent, since he needs to stay home for 24 hours.

If the renter is assigned the night shift, he needs to pay an additional S$2 daily.

If he is sick or takes his annual leave days, he needs to pay another S$10 and S$13.33 per day, respectively. Additionally, when he goes on sick leave, the renter is required to take a photo of the MC and send it to the landlord.

Furthermore, the renter was supposed to be home only at night—with extra charges, again, to be paid if he was home during the day.

The renter then went on to say that he had already paid a deposit and a month’s rent before finding out about the additional charges.

These extraordinary rules seemed to have caused the renter to leave, but the story does not end there. 

“I didn’t want to post it originally. But on the day I moved out, the owner threatened that I hadn’t lived for 6 months and wanted to sue me for compensation. That’s why I opened a post to ask everyone for their opinions,” he wrote.

Netizens were shocked at the landlord’s unreasonable fees.

Commenters on his post urged him to report the matter to the police or the HDB.

Others wondered just what kind of room was being rented out.

/TISG