A Singaporean man was left puzzled after the landlord of a condominium he was looking to rent for his family turned him away due to his nationality.
It later turned out that the landlord had previously gone into a bitter dispute with a Singaporean tenant, which caused him to be wary.
‘Sorry, no S’porean’
Speaking to Shin Min Daily News, the man named Zhou (transliteration), said he currently lives in a public housing flat with his family of five.
He added that he was looking to rent a place that was nearer to Upper Bukit Timah Road as one of his kids will be attending primary school in the area next year.
After some searching, Zhou’s wife found a condominium named Southaven II that had a unit up for rent and arranged for a viewing session with the property agent.
However, when the property agent was informed of Zhou’s nationality, he replied with: “Sorry, no Singaporean.”
This caught Zhou by surprise, with him telling Shin Min that this was his first time getting such a response.
He also said it was “unfair” to stop Singaporean citizens from renting homes in their own country.
Landlord’s side of the story
When approached by the Chinese daily, the real estate agent behind the listing revealed that the landlord is a foreigner and that he had a dispute involving local tenants in the past.
In order not to go through something similar again, the landlord refused to rent to Singaporeans. The agent also argued that the landlord wasn’t being discriminatory.
The landlord previously rented to Singaporean tenants, and the two parties ended up in court. So, this time, he wants to rent the unit to foreigners,” the agent added.
The agent also revealed that a permanent resident (PR) had offered a higher rental price to secure a unit, but eventually lost to a foreign tenant who offered the lower price, due to the landlord’s personal preference.
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