i am writing this in the midst of a deep crisis and i hope that people read and share this information with others so they don't get into the same mess our family is in.
its hard to write in the midst of an escalating crisis situation.
we were scheduled to move into our new apartment 09-03 belvedere on meyer road this morning. we got possession of it on saturday. we are paying a rent of 5200 SD per month for this apartment and have already also given them a two month deposit. so we have paid 15,600 SD to the owner through the agent.
the apartment was supposed to be delivered to us in good condition with floors and cabinets scratch free, plumbing and appliances working and with professional cleaning done. we spent the better part of saturday cleaning up filthy kitchen cabinets, a fridge with food and glass in it, bathrooms with hair and other muck. it took us seven hours to clean the place and it was still had dirt in it. as we further used other things we found the fridge plug broken, the shower heads in two bathrooms broken and the curtains torn with the rings falling off in places, dirty shoe bags in the shoe closet, the final straw was finding that the washing machine door would not close. and the wooden floors began to creak in an eerie fashion.
throughout the weekend we often tried to call the agent and she would not take our calls but only communicate through email. in the condition it was in we found we could not move in today but will still have to compensate the mover his fees.
our current apartment agent and owner have an excellent rapport with us and have allowed us to stay on here. this agent was very sympathetic to our plight and said we should not have cleaned and fixed things but taken photographs of the condition the apartment is in. we explained that we were more intent on trying to make the place home rather than having evidence for legal issues. they were very understanding.
everyone also suggested that we consult a lawyer and do it today but we spent all of today reversing all utility requests and running to ikea to cancel the furniture delivery. everywhere we met with sympathetic and helpful people.
this morning we proposed to the agent that she talk to the owner to let us out of the lease agreement and we agree to forgo the 15,600 SD already paid. we felt was fair and in three months the agent and owner could easily find a new tenant. this was not a place that our family could live in. we apologized and asked to settle this amicably. this is a huge loss of money for us but we wished for peace of mind and decided to let it go instead trying to get into a litigation.
the agent this evening sent us an email saying that we need to pay fourteen months rent and her commission and any additional costs the owner feels are necessary. this is frightening to us. we do not have that kind of money and we have no clue how this will resolve since the owner and the agent are not interested in an amicable settlement.
all three of us are in a high stress condition. unable to eat and sleep and get on with things.
i am writing this so people know about this apartment and the agent, Raelene Tan, and be careful if they have dealings with the same. we are in a stunned condition especially since in our five years of living in singapore we have only met reliable and trustworthy people who do value relationship. everyone who talked to us understood that we must be feeling so upset to decide to lose so much money. yet the agent never even wanted to know why we were so upset. she only threw legal clauses at us and talked about her own commission.
we may go through more nightmares before we resolve this but the taxi driver who also sympathetically asked why we were so upset reminded me of the importance of telling people about this so they do not go through the same so i decided to write.
its hard to write in the midst of an escalating crisis situation.
we were scheduled to move into our new apartment 09-03 belvedere on meyer road this morning. we got possession of it on saturday. we are paying a rent of 5200 SD per month for this apartment and have already also given them a two month deposit. so we have paid 15,600 SD to the owner through the agent.
the apartment was supposed to be delivered to us in good condition with floors and cabinets scratch free, plumbing and appliances working and with professional cleaning done. we spent the better part of saturday cleaning up filthy kitchen cabinets, a fridge with food and glass in it, bathrooms with hair and other muck. it took us seven hours to clean the place and it was still had dirt in it. as we further used other things we found the fridge plug broken, the shower heads in two bathrooms broken and the curtains torn with the rings falling off in places, dirty shoe bags in the shoe closet, the final straw was finding that the washing machine door would not close. and the wooden floors began to creak in an eerie fashion.
throughout the weekend we often tried to call the agent and she would not take our calls but only communicate through email. in the condition it was in we found we could not move in today but will still have to compensate the mover his fees.
our current apartment agent and owner have an excellent rapport with us and have allowed us to stay on here. this agent was very sympathetic to our plight and said we should not have cleaned and fixed things but taken photographs of the condition the apartment is in. we explained that we were more intent on trying to make the place home rather than having evidence for legal issues. they were very understanding.
everyone also suggested that we consult a lawyer and do it today but we spent all of today reversing all utility requests and running to ikea to cancel the furniture delivery. everywhere we met with sympathetic and helpful people.
this morning we proposed to the agent that she talk to the owner to let us out of the lease agreement and we agree to forgo the 15,600 SD already paid. we felt was fair and in three months the agent and owner could easily find a new tenant. this was not a place that our family could live in. we apologized and asked to settle this amicably. this is a huge loss of money for us but we wished for peace of mind and decided to let it go instead trying to get into a litigation.
the agent this evening sent us an email saying that we need to pay fourteen months rent and her commission and any additional costs the owner feels are necessary. this is frightening to us. we do not have that kind of money and we have no clue how this will resolve since the owner and the agent are not interested in an amicable settlement.
all three of us are in a high stress condition. unable to eat and sleep and get on with things.
i am writing this so people know about this apartment and the agent, Raelene Tan, and be careful if they have dealings with the same. we are in a stunned condition especially since in our five years of living in singapore we have only met reliable and trustworthy people who do value relationship. everyone who talked to us understood that we must be feeling so upset to decide to lose so much money. yet the agent never even wanted to know why we were so upset. she only threw legal clauses at us and talked about her own commission.
we may go through more nightmares before we resolve this but the taxi driver who also sympathetically asked why we were so upset reminded me of the importance of telling people about this so they do not go through the same so i decided to write.
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