Singapore – A Malaysian couple was allegedly told by their landlord to move out of their rental room just a few hours after settling in; the landlord also initially refused to return their deposit and moved their belongings without permission.
Videos of the couple’s altercation with the landlord are circulating online, with netizens saying that the unit owner was trying to take advantage of the tenants.
According to the tenant’s Facebook post, they had just moved into a unit at Block 620 in Hougang Avenue 8 on the night of Jan 25. They were then evicted the following day.
One of the videos showed the landlord, wearing only yellow-and-black shorts, initially refusing to return the S$800 the couple paid. The sum included their S$550 deposit.
The woman behind the camera appeared to be in tears during the altercation.
The woman said in her post that she first received text messages at 5 pm on Jan 26 from her boyfriend saying that the landlord wanted to throw their belongings away.
In a comment on the post, the woman’s boyfriend claimed that the landlord also called him while he was at work.
The landlord said he would throw out the couple’s belongings if they didn’t leave the unit by the end of the day.
The boyfriend asked for a few days’ grace period, but the landlord refused.
When the woman returned to their unit, she said her belongings were transferred out of her room without permission.
She confronted the landlord, who denied the allegations. He also said he would face the death penalty if the couple had drugs.
The woman said the landlord implied multiple times that she was in possession of drugs.
In one of the videos, the landlord eventually returned S$700 to the woman after her sister and godmother arrived at the scene and intervened.
Another video showed the police had arrived at the scene. The woman’s boyfriend alerted the authorities after hearing of the landlord’s insinuations and that he moved their belongings without permission.
The police were heard in the video warning the landlord to refrain from making baseless accusations regarding drug possession.
According to the police, the couple and the landlord were advised to take legal recourse. “No further police assistance was required,” said the police.
The woman noted in her post that they went back to their previous residence for the night.
She shared their experience on Facebook to warn others from being “scammed” by such landlords.
Members from the online community continue commenting on their experience, noting that the landlord seemed to be taking advantage of the tenants.
“The best is to have a contract agreement,” said a netizen on Saturday (Feb 5). “Whoever wants to rent a room, it is advisable to approach an experienced and legal agent to have a rental agreement drafted and legally stamped by the commissioner of stamp duty. This is the safer way of protection,” said a Facebook user.
Another concerned individual said that the Housing and Development Board needed to intervene in this case. “They (the landlord) should be forfeited from being able to rent out their room.”
“Trying to cheat that’s why say the couple doing drugs and initially return S$700 short of a hundred. The landlord should be investigated,” added another netizen./TISG