Readers must be cautious when signing a rental agreement, especially foreigners who are new to Singapore, and are likely to sign a contract that is extremely unfavorable to them if they are not familiar with English.
Recently, Singapore Eye received the news from Ms. W, because she listened to the words of the real estate agent, signed a nine-month lease contract, 75,000 Singapore dollars (400,000 yuan) is about to be lost, which she regrets a lot.
The following content has been edited.
The agent said that the contract was only for nine months, but the lease could be renewed
I'm Ms. W, I teach yoga classes and have 4 stores in China. Because my daughter is going to school here, I also came to Singapore. Once everything was settled, I thought about continuing my old job in Singapore, teaching yoga classes.
If I wanted to start a class, I had to solve the problem of the venue, so I asked agent A to help me find a suitable place. A met me through a bank manager, and the house I live in Singapore was also found by A. Later, he found a location that was not too close to the subway station, but there were a number of private homes nearby, and the yoga class should attract some mid-to-high-end customers. I asked about the rent, and it was close to S$9,000 a month, which is cheaper than the average market rate, but the lease was only for 9 months.
I am planning to develop a yoga career in Singapore, and the two main concerns about this contract are: the lease is only for 9 months, can the lease be renewed after the lease expires, and if so, what will be the rent increase?
A replied that the lease could be renewed after the contract expired, and the rent increase was also within my acceptable range, so I decided to rent the place.
A has prepared 2 contracts, one is a commission contract between me and him, and the other is a flat lease agreement between me and the lessor.
The intermediary asks for the commission to be transferred to a private account
After I signed both contracts, one thing that struck me as a little strange was that A seemed to be in a bit of a hurry to ask me to transfer the commission to him. I don't have a bank account in Singapore, so I asked a friend to transfer money for me. My friend felt that something was wrong, because the bank account was not an intermediary company, but A's private account.
I don't really know the norms of this industry, and A has been urging me, so I asked my friend to transfer the commission of S$3,343. My friend told me that I must ask A to invoice me.
A gave me an invoice, but the name of the company on this invoice is different from that of the agency.
Later, I checked with the agency and found out that I had been scammed. The agent said that the commission for the transaction was paid by the landlord of the rental unit, and I didn't have to pay any commission.
I showed the commission contract that A asked me to sign, and the agency said that the contract was forged.
It dawned on me that it was no wonder that A kept urging me to pay the commission and explained why the money was going to his own bank account.
Later, A told me that the matter was a misunderstanding and that he had transferred the money to the account of the agency. But the problem is that if I don't have to pay a commission, A is already suspected of fraud if he receives my money, and even if he does transfer the money to the company, it can't be justified because I don't have to pay this money in the first place.
I have reported the matter to the police.
Whether or not I can get this commission back is not so important to me anymore, because the bigger trouble is yet to come.
The lease cannot be renewed after the expiration of 9 months
Previously, A said that the unit I rented could be renewed after 9 months. My friend helped me carefully read the content of the contract, only to find out that the contract said that the contract would not be renewed after the expiration of the 9-month lease, and I would also be responsible for restoring the decoration of the unit to its original state!
These terms are written in the contract, and the contract is written in English, I am not very familiar with English, just with the trust of A, I signed the contract, I really didn't expect A to lie to me like this!
Later, I was told that when signing the contract, the agent should explain every clause in the contract to the tenant, but A did not do so when I signed the contract.
So I contacted A and asked him why the contract was different from what he had told me at the beginning, and A was still quibbling that the information he got could be renewed.
I had been thinking of running a yoga class here for a long time, and I had asked a designer to fly from China to Singapore to help me design the storefront, but now all this effort has been in vain.
Early cancellation is also subject to 9 months' rent
I tried to ask the landlord if he could let me renew the lease after 9 months, but the landlord said no. I told the landlord about my difficulties, hoping to terminate the contract, but the landlord told the truth that the lease was so short that his unit could not be rented out at all, so I said you know, how can a normal tenant only rent for 9 months?
So I said that I didn't want the rent and the deposit, so I would just terminate the contract, but the landlord said that even if I terminated the contract early, I still had to pay 9 months' rent according to the contract, otherwise I would find a lawyer to sue me.
I was so exhausted that I didn't get a response to my complaints to the agency and the Council of Real Estate Agents (CEA). If this contract is to be fulfilled, it is equivalent to paying close to S$9,000 a month to rent an inoperable unit, which is 75,000 S$ (about 400,000 yuan). I hope that after reading my experience, readers will be as cautious as possible when signing a contract, and not be like me, and make a big mistake by accident.
Rent a contract and pay attention to these things
1) Don't completely believe what the intermediary says, take what is written in the contract as the standard, and be sure to clearly understand the content of the contract.
2) Read every clause of the contract carefully, don't think that important information is written in the front, and the back is not important, take Ms. W as an example, the contract she signed has a total of 37 pages, and the clause that states that the contract cannot be renewed is on 33 pages, which is easy for people to ignore the past.
3) Whether it's a viewing or signing a contract, it's best to find someone to accompany you, who may be able to give some advice at the right time.
4) Don't be in a hurry to make a decision, the agent may say that this unit is very sought-after, and a slow step may be robbed by others, don't be affected by such words, the more anxious the agent, the more you should calm down and think, what is the reason for being so anxious, is it to let you rent a good unit, or for his commission?
5) Before making a decision, you may wish to look around the unit you want to rent again, talk to nearby neighbors or shops, and maybe find out something that you can't hear from the agent.
CY丨EDITOR
HQ丨Editor
Ms. W丨Source
pixabay,W女士丨图源
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