This is a bit of a long one folks, so those of you who bore easily might want to give it a miss. I am putting it in here more as a reminder for me of how things are done and as potentially a How-To for anyone arriving in Singapore in similar circumstances to us and who may stumble across this blog.
So here we go.......
Finding accommodation as a newbie in any city is always stressful. As I have stated in earlier posts, Morris Allen English had arranged for various agents to be assigned to groups of us to ease the process. BJ was the man for us.
Real estate in Singapore works a little differently to Australia. No surprise there. You, as an owner, engage the services of an agent to locate a tenant. I, as a prospective tenant can engage the services of another, different type of, agent to locate suitable accommodation. The closest I can get to a description for BJ would be that of a buyer's advocate. He does not have listings himself but searches the market to locate suitable prospects.
Heather and I, plus roughly six others, were assigned BJ who I will now describe as our advocate.
Now BJ was polite, but possessed nothing of the effusive, 'maaaate' style we Aussies are familiar with in real estate agents. In and of itself this need not be a bad thing. The trouble was, he also didn't give the appearance of trying to be overly helpful either.
Even though we had all provided details of what it was we were looking for, when it came to the crunch he initially only had two places to show us all. To be fair, trying to make a bunch of late-stage teachers in the middle of a cultural change, the like of which most have never experienced, happy was always going to be a big ask. To this issue could be added the fact that pressure was being applied because our paid-for accommodation at the hotel was for a maximum of two weeks.
Consequently, as we approached the end of week one, only those of the group who had lived in Singapore before, and were therefore experienced hands, or single and prepared to accept share lodgings with locals, were in any sort of a position to depart the hotel.
It was with all his in mind that BJ, at last, came up with a 2BR unit in a condominium named Rio Vista at Hougang which looked like it could suit any of us. Present at the viewing was the listing agent Lawrence and his off-sider, Vincent.
NOTE: The agents appear ALWAYS to have an off-sider. As a corroborating witness to deals done, possibly.
This condo was the pick of the very small bunch to date and luckily I managed to get a look at Lawrence's full name on his badge. It was a name I recognised from propertyguru.com.sg.
The only problem now being BJ was off back to Malaysia to prepare for the New Year. "Back in a week or so...." was the message we heard.
Hmmmmmm, I was wanting to see that unit again ASAP. So I contacted Lawrence T direct and arranged a second viewing.
During the viewings I had noticed some water damage in the bathroom ceiling. Pointing this out to Lawrence I was assured it would be fixed - AFTER the new tenant moved in.
Back home, when renting property, the general expectation is all will be in a good state of repair BEFORE taking up residence. Not the same expectation in Singapore, apparently.
At the second viewing I made an offer some $200 below the asking price which Lawrence said he would put to the owner, together with our request for extra furniture.
The following day Lawrence was on the phone saying the Landlord had agreed the new price but not all the furniture. This was fine by us, so now we needed to get a Letter of Intent (LOI) drafted, which required also a deposit of one months rent be included.
Letters of Intent (LOI)
A Letter of Intent is a pre-Tenancy Agreement agreement. It states the monthly rental plus all the inclusions the prospective tenant expects and must be signed, in the first instance, by the tenant and subsequently by the owner. Once it is signed by the owner there is a valid contract which cannot easily be revoked.
Be advised. There is need to nominate a date after which the LOI becomes void. My initial thought was this date should be a good while into the future. Thirty days being my initial suggestion to BJ but he said ten days, maybe a week. We chose the shorter. This was to become significant.
We included with the LOI, a Cashiers Cheque from the bank as our deposit. For anyone renting in Singapore in the future please note the following:
1/ DO NOT GIVE THE AGENT OR YOUR ADVOCATE CASH.
2/ Use a personal cheque as a first preference.
3/ As a second preference use a Cashiers Cheque from your bank but be aware, it is as good as cash to whomsoever's name appears on the cheque and from the date appearing on the cheque.
4/ The process is for the cash/cheque to be handed to the Landlord by the agent, as a "good faith" gesture, at the point the Landlord signs the LOI.
5/ Once the Landlord has cashed the cheque, if there is a subsequent problem with either the LOI details or the actual Tenancy Agreement, and you wish to cancel the whole deal, there will be a BIG problem getting the your money back.
6/ Do not long-date the LOI. Make it only a few days hence. While the extra time may make you feel better and potentially give you time to get organised it also allows the owner and his agent to offer the place to someone else. A potential problem if you have negotiated a better price.
7/ Whatever you are told about the market don't feel pressured. There are lots out there and the turn-over is pretty constant.
8/ MAKE SURE YOU POST-DATE THE CHEQUE, PERSONAL OR CASHIER, TO THE DATE THE LOI EXPIRES. This allows you to cancel the LOI AND the cheque easily if negotiations break down.
9/ ALWAYS, ALWAYS get a receipt, which should include the NRIC/Passport No., of whomever you give the funds.
So what happened in our case?
We had negotiated a better price, signed the LOI, handed over the cashiers cheque - dated that day - to our advocate and didn't get a receipt.
Two days later I get a call from our advocate advising that the Landlord has decided to renege on the agreed price and we needed to come up with another $100 to put with the LOI.
WTF
When I ask whether we have to agree to this change and notate/initial the changes on the LOI BJ agrees but advises that if we agitate we could miss out on getting the unit. This is the point where I started to feel really uncomfortable.
Throughout this whole process we had been recommended the services of another advocate, one whom a number of other teachers in our position had ended up using to find accommodation over the past few years. Due to a "local politics" problem I am unable to name him directly so will use the nom de plume, Small Irishman of Arabia (SIoA).
I called SIoA and explained our situation. From that moment I knew I was dealing with a person who could and would do what was needed.
Within two hours he had three viewings lined up for us. Two of them, one of which we have now settled into, within the same complex we had a preference for and a third elsewhere.
From SIoA came the nine items of advice listed above. It was SIoA who gave me the words to use in what became my battle to get our initial deposit returned and the LOI cancelled.
What are the words to use when all the others do not work? When you are promised meetings to hand over cheques and/or cash which do not eventuate they are not words so much as acronyms and they are ERA and CEA.
The first is the body which oversees all dealers in real estate and, unlike the toothless, self-serving sycophant organisations in Aus, this one strikes genuine fear into the hearts of all real-estate agents and advocates. The second, the CEA, is the Singapore equivalent to Consumer Affairs. Again, this one is effective, unlike home. Any remains of your agent the ERA leaves behind after investigating complaints is finished off by the CEA, apparently.
Bearing that in mind, within two hours of sending an SMS to agent and advocate stating I was contacting both offices I was face-to-face with my original owner's agent to receive my cheque back.
Magic.
Finally, what is the significance of having a short-term LOI life?
Because I had dated ours a week ahead there was no compulsion on the agent to return the deposit until the LOI had lapsed. As explained by SIoA this keeps pressure on you, as the prospective tenant, to come back to the table and allows a malevolent agent/Landlord get further away with, or spend more of, your money thus potentially leaving you with an expensive legal battle for its return.
Here endeth the epistle.
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