Mom & 14-Year-Old Son Locked Out Of Rental Flat After Alleged Rental Dispute With Yishun Landlord
Home rental is a great way for tenants to find a temporary place to stay and for property owners to earn passive income. However, without proper communication and respect, things can easily go awry.
In one such case, a woman and her 14-year-old son were allegedly locked out by their landlord and had no choice but to sleep on the stairs of a Yishun HDB block.
Police were called in to mediate the situation, but the landlord apparently did not allow them to return.
Owner allegedly cut off power and locked door without warning
According to Shin Min Daily News, 51-year-old Ms Yu rented a 4-room-flat at 733 Yishun Avenue 5 after coming across an advertisement online.
While Ms Yu and her son were due to move in from 1 Apr, but apparently did so earlier on 20 Mar after a discussion with the owners.
However, on Wednesday (6 Apr) morning, Ms Yu found that the water and electricity to the house were cut off.
A notice was also stuck on their room door, requesting Ms Yu and her 14-year-old son to vacate the unit by the next day (7 Apr) or be prepared to face the consequences. Ms Yu was apparently stunned by the notice.
Later that day, she found herself locked out of the apartment after she went out briefly to buy food.
She immediately called the police for assistance. However, the owners were relentless and refused to let them in despite the cops’ interference.
Eventually, Ms Yu and her young son had no choice but to spend the night at the HDB staircase.
She said that she hopes to find a new place within two months, but it’s not easy to do so currently.
Tenant accused of violating code of conduct
The owner provided their side of the story, claiming that Ms Yu violated the tenant’s code of conduct, as reported by China Press.
They also sent the tenants a lawyer’s letter and asked them to move out within seven days.
Apparently, Ms Yu asked to suspend the lease on 23 Mar and revoked her application to become the registrant of the flat’s utilities before 25 Mar.
Ms Yu refuted these claims, saying that the owners had arranged for potential tenants to view the house. Therefore, she felt there was no need for her to become a registrant of the water supply since her time there was limited.
The owner then claimed that she violated the tenant’s code of conduct by causing a nuisance to the landlord.
The six major allegations made against the tenants in the lawyer’s letter included threatening to evict the owner, disposing of furniture, refusing to pay rent, and being rude.
Owners allegedly failed to comply with rental agreement
According to China Press, the lease of the 4-room apartment was supposed to last one year starting 1 Apr 2022 with monthly rent set at S$2,600.
When they moved in, Ms Yu reportedly asked the owners to thoroughly clean up the apartment. However, they did not do so and instead complained that the tenants had too much luggage.
Less than a week later, Ms Yu said the owners brought more potential tenants to view the house on 24 and 25 Mar.
Communication is key between tenants and landlord
It is unfortunate that what could have been a win-win situation for the landlord and tenants ended up so ugly, especially since a young boy was involved.
Perhaps with better communication and mutual respect, this could have been avoided.
We hope Ms Yu is successful in finding a new place to stay as every person deserves to sleep safely with a roof over their heads.
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Featured image adapted from Shin Min Daily News on Facebook and Google Maps.
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