Scammed by landlord? Women fork out $2,000 to rent Tampines flat but existing tenants refuse to move out

A woman and her friend recently paid a $2,000 deposit to rent a flat that's nearer her workplace.

But when they were about to move in, they realised that the landlord had kept them in the dark about the tenancy — the existing tenants refused to move out.

The incident started at the end of June, Shin Min Daily News reported on Tuesday (July 25).

Grocery store employee Cheng told the Chinese evening daily that a regular customer had recommended his flat along Tampines Street 21 to her after she mentioned that she was looking for a place to rent.

"He told me that he had a flat to lease out, and asked me if I was interested," she said.

The 34-year-old Malaysian, who has been working in Singapore for eight years, added: "Compared to where I was living at that time, the flat was nearer to my workplace. I felt good about living there".

While viewing the house with her friend, Cheng was initially concerned that two tenants were already living there.

"The landlord assured us that the tenants would move out before our lease started," she said.

To rent two rooms, Cheng said that she forked out $800 in deposit, while her friend paid $1,050 up front. 

On July 8, the pair moved in and got a big surprise — the two tenants were still there.

"They told us that they just moved in two months ago and had no intention of moving out," Cheng said. "We realised we were fooled by the landlord."

The woman shared that she lodged a police report after the landlord refused to return the full deposit, adding that she and her friend only received refunds of $400 and $800 respectively. 

"He has yet to reply to our messages," Cheng said.

"We were really unlucky, but thankfully there were vacant rooms in another friend's house. So my friend and I went over to stay there."

Responding to AsiaOne's queries, the police confirmed that a police report was lodged.

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chingshijie@asiaone.com