A woman pays nearly a $2,000 deposit to rent a flat, only to find out on the move-in day that the previous tenant still has not moved out.
According to Zaobao, Ms Cheng, a Malaysian who is working in a sundry shop, suspected that she had been cheated and lodged a police report after she and a friend paid almost S$2,000 in deposits to rent a room in Singapore’s Tampines estate, only to find out upon move-in day that the previous tenant had not vacated the flat.
The incident occurred at the end of June this year. Ms Cheng, aged 34, met a regular customer who recommended his own house for rent to her.
“At that time, I had asked this regular customer about renting a room, and he said he had one available for rent. The rented room was located at 243 Tampines Street 21, close to my workplace and much more convenient than my previous residence, so I felt it’s a good deal,” she said.
Afterwards, Ms Cheng made an appointment with a friend to view the house.
“We were satisfied with what we saw, and then talked to the landlord and reserved a move-in date, which was on the 8th of this month,” Ms Cheng said.
However, when they arrived on move-in day, Ms Cheng discovered that two tenants were already occupying the flat. “The landlord told us at the time that the tenant would move out before we moved in, so we felt relieved,” Ms Cheng said.
After paying $800 and $1,050 in deposits respectively, Ms Cheng and her friend thought they had secured the two available rooms, but they were shocked to find that the two tenants were still in the flat on move-in day.
“The tenants had moved in just two months ago and had no intention of moving out. We then realized that we had been scammed,” Ms Cheng said.
Ms Cheng and her friend were unable to move in on the agreed move-in date. They later contacted the landlord and discovered that he did not intend to refund their money and thus made a police report.
The police later confirmed that they received the report and investigations are ongoing.
