SINGAPORE – When you’re in a foreign land, looking for a suitable place to stay can be an adventure or nightmare as you have to negotiate your way through and put up with downright bizarre and outrageous demands laid out by your landlord.
Ho, a Malaysian tenant, recently described his peculiar experience where he was required to be at the house for a maximum of 12 hours a day. His landlord also requested him to vacate the place during the daytime.
According to Ho, he and a friend found the house up for rent online and had his cousin inspect the place before he moved in and found the rules laid out by the landlord acceptable.
“However, she [the landlord] decided to change the rules when I was about to move in.”
One of the rules imposed was that Ho had to leave the house before 8 am and return after 6 pm, and if he exceeded the given timeframe, he would have to pay a surcharge of 13.33SGD (RM41.60) per day.
Another peculiar rule was that in the event Singapore enters a national lockdown, Ho has to stay home and pay an additional $400SGD (RM1248.10)
After a few months, Ho and his friend decided to terminate their rental agreement with the landlord as they couldn’t bear it any longer.
However, the landlord refused to return their one-month deposit and told them to pay rent for the next five months, claiming that it was “part of the original deal”.
“We’ve already paid her thousands of dollars in extra surcharges during the lockdown and now we’re forced to pay more money to clear this mess,” he said.
When contacted, the landlord defended her actions, saying that she imposed those rules as she felt uncomfortable having male tenants staying with her the entire day and had unpleasant experiences with previous tenants.
What do you think of these house rules? Would you ever stay at such a place? Tell us in the comments down below!
Sources: Shin Min Daily News
Editor: Raymond Chen
Proofreader: Sarah Yeoh
