| Good News! |
View2Offer.com.sg is giving
(worth SGD $7,000) to our agent website customers to advertise your properties into View2Offer Search™ which gives the maximum exposure. Call 64230155 for more information now!
Guide to post your Free Ads, please click here.
|
New
User |
|
Registered
Member |
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
VIEW2OFFER
– FREE PROPERTY LEGAL ADVICE AT YOUR
FINGERTIPS!
| ............................................................................................................ |
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
I bought a resale condo with a lease agreement ending in April (non-furnishig). My tenant is supposed to pay me for the last month rental but instead she is using her security deposit to offset. She had sublet the house to other tenants( she is not staying there at all)done up illegal wall partitions in the house and in our lease agreement (which we bought the property with the rental lease earlier) we had asked that she removed all the walls when she handover back the unit to us. But now she is uncontactable for more than 7 days (hp off)and the dates to handover is in 1 wk time. For the past few mths, I hve been liasing with her agent (the one who is engaged to find tenants for her subletting). He is the medium between us. We managed to get hold of the agent and told him tat we wld like to get back the unit immediately since she had breach the contract. He instead say that she can counter sue us if we deactivate the access cards as the unit stil have her tenants staying there. (though the lease contract is signed between me and her only) I am unhappy with the how the way she can get away without delivering the house to original state and leavin me to deal with this mess at my own $$ expenses like hacking the partitions, disposing of the furnishings left behind. Is there any way that I can deal with her and preventing from having more stress and added cost to the handover? Thanks
|
--
Question posted by Ene
Subject: Tenant run away and leave me with sub-tenants which i am not aware
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
Your lease is with the tenant only and not the sub-tenant. You may report this matter to the police to evict the sub-tenants. Alternatively you may commence legal proceedings through a lawyer to recover possession of your unit and sue the Tenant for all your losses.
|
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
Our former land lady still owes us our two months deposit from when we left her flat. At, first she said she would issue us a post dated check (dated about a month after we left her house) and that we can cash it by then. The day before we deposit the cheque, she sent an SMS telling us not to deposit it and she would just pay in cash. Again, she never held up to her deal and now she's stalling saying she will pay by installment for the next 5-6 months. we need our money back urgently. seeing as she issued us a cheque and fails to fund the account when the day came for us to claim it(her knowing it would bounce), would that be considered as fraud? And what are the next steps that we could do to ensure we get our money back the fastest time. We are foreign workers in singapore.
|
--
Question posted by Ben
Subject: Rent Deposit
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
It would not be consider as fraud by issuing a cheque which is dishonoured. However you will have a valid civil claim against the landlord.
If you wish to commence legal proceedings against her, you may wish to contact us at 6346 0110 for a discussion.
|
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
I am an agt from PropNex Questions: Vendor agreed $1.5m and the Purchaser give a cheque of 1% as option fee to agt and Vendor take back his words. anyway the enforce the sale? can agt cliam for the commission? PropNex DA Group Thank you
|
--
Question posted by Kelvin
Subject: Purchase a landed property
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
The answer has 2 parts.
Part 1 - can buyer enforce agreement
Buyer can only enforce agreement if the seller has already issued the Option and the buyer gets hold of it. If not, the seller can back out and refund the 1%.
Part 2 - can agent claim for commission
This will depend on whether the seller has signed an exclusive. If the seller has signed an exclusive, the exclusive will state that once the agent finds him a buyer at the price he wanted, the agent is entitled to commission. If there is no exclusive signed, the agent cannot claim.
|
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
Hi. I planned to sell my EC without engaging an agent. How do I obtain a copy of the Option to Purchase form? Is there other forms required? Thank you.
|
--
Question posted by NBA
Subject: Selling private property without agent
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
If you do not intend to engage an agent, either the seller's lawyer or your own lawyer may prepare the Option to Purchase for you. We do provide such services to act for either sellers or buyers.
|
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
Hi, I was looking for a unit to take up on rent and I came across one that I liked. I asked my agent to take the deal forward and he advised me to fill up the Letter of intent and pay the good faith deposit to the agent's account. I did the same by Nets. While signing the Letter of Intent, I specifically asked the agent to confirm with the owner if he agrees to the diplomatic clause applicable for foreigners after 6 months in a one year lease term. The landlord was not very keen on terms of the clause and so neither the LOI was signed by the owner, nor the tenancy agreement and the deal was called off by the owner's agents. Kindly advise if the agent can forfeit the good faith deposit even when the owner has not even accepted the LOI.
|
--
Question posted by NBA
Subject: Dispute over Good Faith Deposit
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
If the owner did not accept LOI, neither he or the agent is entitled to forfeit the good faith deposit. You may lodge a claim against them either through the small claims tribunal or through the Courts.
|
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
Hi, I would like to know what would the legal implications be if a purchaser or his lawyer tries to exercise an Option to purchase on its expiry date ( which happens to fall on a Public Holiday ) but realise that the seller's solicitor is not contactable & his law firm is closed on that Public Holiday. In the above scenario, what would be the consequeces ? Can the seller's solicitor refuse to accept the Option exercise fees on the next working day?
|
--
Question posted by Jeff
Subject: What happens if the Option to Purchase Expiry date falls on a Public Holiday?
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
If the exericse date falls on a Public Holiday, the buyer must exercise it on the previous working day.
|
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
Hi, I have a one year tenancy agmt with my tenant. Less than 3 months of rental, they terminate the contract without giving notice and the agent accepted the termination and rent it out the rooms to non related individuals without my knowledge. Question 1, can the tenents terminate agmt without official letter and I can seek for full rental of the balance period of the lease. Question 2, does the agent has the right to accept the termination on my behalf and rent it out to others without my permission. According to agent, he found me a replacement.
|
--
Question posted by MG
Subject: Early termination of tenancy agreement without notice
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
1. Whether or not the tenant is entitled to terminate the tenancy is up to the terms of the tenancy agreement. Most tenancy agreements do not have a clause which allows the tenant to prematurely terminate the tenancy.
2. The Agent does not have the right to accept the termination and rent out to another person without your permission. He must always seek your consent.
|
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
Thank you Mr Chang for providing free legal advice. Is the Landlord's agent required to follow through the entire tenancy period? As in, is it the agent's responsibilities to arrange contractors, liaise between the Landlord and the Tenant, ensure the monthly prompt rental payment? Or is it the job of tenancy manager and the agent's obligation stops at the initial handing taking over and all paper work? Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
|
--
Question posted by Tommi Lim
Subject: Landlord Agents Obligation
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
The agent's duty in Singapore is that of a property broker i.e to match a seller and buyer or landlord and tenant. As such, the agent is not required to follow through the entire tenancy period. However, some agents may help out the landlord as a matter of goodwill and good service.
|
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
Hi, My Seller signed the option to Purchase and accepted the $1K deposit. when Buyer exercised it with another $4K, Seller refused to sell the flat and also declined to meet up to discuss. He now pushes the blame to agent that agent did not explain to him the Option period etc. We did explain all the important points and in fact, Seller initial on pages where importants has been explained. only thing is that HDB resale checklist was not signed. May I know what recourse does the Buyer has and also what implication on the agent side? Thanks for your advise.
|
--
Question posted by Dionne
Subject: Seller refuse to sell after granting Option to Buyer
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
Once the Seller has signed the Option, he cannot back out of the transaction unless you fail to exercise it within the 14 days deadline. As the buyer, you should still proceed to exercise the option and submit it to the HDB. If the seller still refuses to proceed with the transaction, you may engage a lawyer to sue the seller for specific performance.
|
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
I currently own a private condominium with my partner under joint tenancy. Can I buy over his share of the property based on a pre-agreed figure? This will be less than 50% of the market value of the property. Does this also mean that I am liable to pay stamp duties based on this figure?
|
--
Question posted by Penelope
Subject: Joint tenancy property
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
Yes you may buy over his share at a pre-agreed price provided that he still honour it. Yes you are liable for stamp duty based on the figure provided that it reflects the market value. If not, you will have to pay stamp duty based on 50% of the market value.
|
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
We bought a landed property and exercise OTP in mid may09. On the completion day(mid of july09) our lawyer told us that the seller was filed bankruptcy petitions at end of jun09.We were told that we are unable to proceed the completion. Can u pls tell us what are the problems, charges that may incured and time to wait for completion.
|
--
Question posted by May
Subject: Seeking for legal advice on private property
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
| As you already engaged a lawyer to act for you in the purchase of your property, please consult your lawyer. |
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
I just moved into a new HDB unit (rented) and the washing machine is non-functional for 3 weeks. The agent failed to solve the problem for us as he keeps delivering used washing machines that will wash the laundry dirty. In this case, we (tenants)experienced inconvenience in living in the house as we could not do laundry at all and wasted our times to wait for deliveries of washing machines but found out that those are not working properly. Can tenants rightfully seek for compensation (time and money)?As I believe owner has the responsibility to ensure the tenants to have a comfortable living in the house rented. *The owner refuse to change a new washing machine and thus causing us to go through the hassle of accepting and rejecting all the washing machines that were being delivered to us. Thus we are now thinking whether we can ask owner to indemnify our lost/damage for 3 weeks* *Washing machine is included in the inventory checklist upon moving in*
|
--
Question posted by Jennifer
Subject: Owner's responsibility
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
| Under a tenancy agreement, the owner is only obliged to give you quiet enjoyment and possession of the premises and NOT comfortable living. As for the washing machine, is it included in part of the rental? If it is, you may demand that the landlord provide a functional washing machine. If it is not working, you replace the washing machine yourself and claim the costs against your landlord. You are not entitled to claom for loss of time and comfort. |
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
My partner has recently planned to purchase a condo unit without having me to contribute a single cent to the purchase of the property. He planned to have me as the co-owner. How do i know if it's a Tenants-in-common or Joint Tenants when signing ownership form? Should i not be part of the loan-bearer, is this property consider legally mine should death or divorce occurs?
|
--
Question posted by Wu
Subject: Property co-own queries
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
| During the conveyancing process, the lawyer handling the purchase of the property will require you to sign a form stating whether you are buying it as joint tenants or tenants in common. Please check with your own lawyer. |
|
|
|
| ............................................................................................................. |
|
|
| Q. |
Hi. I recently moved out from a rented apt. During the handing over inspection, the landlord spotted some masking tape over one of the bedroom wardrobe door. I explained that the wooden parts were loose due to fair wear and tear. He accused that it was damaged and I should bear the full cost of reinstatement ($450). There was a minor repair clause in the tenancy agreement stating that my liability is up to $100 and the handing over inspection was done within the lease period. However, he refused to return part of my deposit ($450) since I failed to inform him of the damage prior to the handover. What should I do?
|
--
Question posted by Ken Simurty
Subject: Handing Over Dispute
|
|
| |
|
| A. |
The landlord is only entitled to forfeit your deposit to set off against any damage and it is the landlord's duty to prove that there was damage to the bedroom wardrobe door. In addition, he must also prove that the costs of repairs amount to S$450.00 for a merely wardrobe door.
If he has yet to furnish any such evidence (eg quotations from the contractor), I would advise that you file a claim with the Small Claims Tribunal against the landlord to recover your deposit. |
|
.............................................................................................................
Free
property legal advice contributed by:
Ian Chang, LLB (Hons), of Riaz, Ian Chang
& Pat Quah Advocates and Solicitors.
[ more
on Ian Chang ]
.............................................................................................................
Disclaimer
The
information and free property legal
advice provided on Legal Advice
on View2Offer is not intended to
be specific advice, but merely conveys
general information related to Legal
issues commonly encountered. Free
property legal advice provided in
this column is not meant as a substitute
for comprehensive professional advice.
View2Offer and our contributors
shall not be responsible for any
liability arising from your reliance
of any information or use of this
site for your dealings with any
third party. Permission is NOT granted
to reproduce, copy or distribute
any part of this website without
prior approval from View2Offer.com.Your
access to and use of this website
is subject to additional Terms
and Conditions.
|
|
|
|
|
Ian
Chang LLB (Hons)
Aptus Law Corporation
Parkway Parade Office
For over 11 years, Ian Chang has
successfully represented thousands
of clients involving a wide range
of practice on conveyancing, litigation
and other legal issues.
[ more
on Ian Chang
] |
|
|
|
|