Landlord ‘locked us out’ says tenant, he says she ‘violated code of conduct’

Tenants  with landlord problems seem to be popping up a lot lately, with the latest case involving a woman from China and her son who say they were deliberately locked out of their rented flat in Yishun just days after moving in.

The tenant  Ms Yu, 51, said that she and her 14-year-old son were forced to spend the night in the stairwell of HDB Block 733. That happened although she had signed a one-year lease on the four-bedroom flat in Yishun Avenue 5.

Her son is studying here and Ms Yu is here to care for him.

She told the Chinese-language Shin Min Daily News that the landlord left her a note on Wednesday (April 6) telling her to move out by the following day. .

Her $2,600-per-month lease on the four-bedroom unit was to start on April 1 but she said that the landlord  agreed to let them move in by Mar 20.

So she said she was surprised find on the morning of April 6 that the owner had had the electricity and water cut off, and left her a handwritten note telling her and her son, “Move out of this unit before April 7th. If you don’t do it, you will be at your own risk.”

Shin Min posted a photo of the letter on its Facebook page on Apr 7.

Ms Yu left the flat that day, and when she came back, she found that another lock had been installed on the gate, one which, naturally, she did not have the key to. The landlord would not let her back in, even after she called the police.

She told Shin Min: “After I went to the police station to give my statement, I had nowhere to go. I spent the night sitting in the stairwell with my son.”

The landlord had sent the woman a letter on Mar 31 which said that she needed to vacate the premises within seven days for “violating the tenant’s code of conduct and obligations”. According to that letter, both parties agreed to the termination of the lease on Mar 25.

The landlord has made several allegations against Ms Yu, which she has denied. 

The tenant reportedly exhibited bad behaviour, moved the owners’ belongings without their consent, withdrew her application for the utility bill account, and even threatened to chase the owners from their own flat.

Ms Yu counters that the landlord did not clear space for her in the living room and kitchen, telling her instead she had too many things.

But she told Shin Min that she only had “a few” boxes in addition to their six suitcases, and that all their possessions were kept in the bedroom.

She claimed that  even though she had a lease agreement, the owner kept showing the flat to would-be tenants even after she and her son had moved in.

/TISG

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