'I'm just lucky': Malaysian grateful for Singaporean landlord maintaining $700 monthly rent for 6 years

While rental horror stories have been prevalent recently, this Malaysian man has taken to social media to show his appreciation for his Singaporean landlord instead.

In a Facebook post shared on Thursday (March 16), Steven Chong said that his $700-a-month rent for two people has not increased for the past six years. 

This is even though he had long expected the landlord — a young couple — to do so.

Chong wrote: "They said to me, 'Relax, we won't increase the rent. We understand that making a living away from home is not easy'.

"They also told me that it would be very tough for us if we move back to Johor Bahru and travel to Singapore daily for work. Long story short, it really warms my heart."

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Chong also listed down several perks of living with his existing landlord.

These include no restrictions on cooking in the apartment and the use of air conditioning. Usage of the internet is also included.

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Chong also appreciates that the landlord has catered to his needs, by allowing him to wash his clothes three times a week.

"They only do the laundry every Sunday when I go back to Malaysia. They are too accommodating," the tenant said.

Chong also shared how he got a new double mattress twice in six years — out of the landlord's own pocket.

"I'm just lucky," he said. "I really think it's not easy to find such a good landlord if you're away from home. I hope everyone will share more stories that portray a good side to landlords."

This Facebook has since garnered over 190 comments and 70 shares.

In the comments, several netizens pointed out how it's not easy to find a good landlord here.

"I've moved four times in three years. Going to be the fifth time soon," a netizen wrote in Chinese.

"Not everyone is as lucky as you," another netizen said, while others urged Chong to treasure his landlord.

Recent rental nightmare stories

Other foreigners living in Singapore have not been so lucky with their landlords 

On March 8, a woman took to social media to complain about how her "generous" landlord increased rent by 75 per cent.

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In the video posted recently, user Salshoult explained sarcastically that she need not be "anxious about the state of the Singapore rental market".

She said her landlord claimed it was an "excellent deal" since he intended to "put it onto the open rental market at a 100 per cent" mark-up, otherwise.

Salshoult added mockingly: "Uh, so really he's only giving us a 25 per cent discount… so generous of him."

And in January, a man shared how he encountered several landlords with weird rules while looking for a place to rent.

"Some places are like, 'I only want you to work nine-to-five jobs'," Felix Lim cited in a TikTok video as an example.

In the video, he also complained that several landlords ask for personal details such as the potential tenant's race and occupation.

"The prices are already so high and you want to impose all these weird rules," he lamented, adding that some of these included no cooking and specific times to do their laundry.

ALSO READ: Tenancy tips for those with nightmarish landlords and horrible housemates

chingshijie@asiaone.com

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