MY heart goes out to tenants who are dissatisfied with their landlords. And there must be quite a few out there, judging by the reports this paper has carried on ‘crooked’ landlords.
What’s striking is that so many of the ‘victims’ are foreigners, who have come to Singapore in search of work, education, a future, only to suddenly find themselves with no roof over their heads because of unscrupulous landlords.
Given that they are unfamiliar with Singapore and the legal resources available, it is no wonder that foreigners appear as easy prey in housing scams.
Those I’ve met say most agents surrender all responsibility once they have ‘matchmade’ landlord and tenant. So imagine the hurt and betrayal tenants must feel when landlords make away with their money, and agents ignore their cries for help (and justice).
Having rented a room myself for about two months, I have experienced a tenant’s fear.
Last month, in the middle of the night, I was quite sure a loan shark splashed paint through my open window.
The paint hit the ceiling, closet, floor, and even landed on me as I slept.
The door of my flat had also been vandalised with paint and ‘O$P$’ was written at the common corridor.
Panicking, I woke my landlord, who said the previous flat-owner had borrowed money from a loan shark. She thought it was okay since there had not been an ‘attack’ in over a year. She made a police report and cleaned the mess up.
I was initially angry with her for not telling me about the flat’s past before I moved in, but my anger was curtailed when I saw her taking full responsibility for the situation.
My landlord is good and responsible, and such landlords are hard to find. Yet, deep down, I feared.
So I can imagine that tenants living with less-than-good landlords must fear much more.
Call me naive, but here’s an appeal to a landlord’s good nature, which I hope does exist: A room may be a landlord’s investment, but it is a tenant’s home.
