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Dear Editors,
I have decided to share something that I recently went thru and hope no one has to go thru it.
I saw an advertisement on FlatsDB.com for a small HDB unit at 771 Yishun Ave 3, #10-235, S760771. Contacted the advertiser Desmond Tan Yew Jin (S750XXXXE), Me and my friends decided to view the place and he said the current tenant will be moving out by 23 April 2016 and we will be able to move in by 1 May 2016. He even offered that he will paint the place and even the sent us pictures later that he has changed the sofa.
We eventually signed a tenancy agreement to rent his property and paid a deposit of SGD1700. Three days before we were supposed to move, he called up claiming he has been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and given 6 months to live and even cried. Believing him, we felt sorry for him and he agreed to return us our deposit in 2 days. The days passed and he never returned the money; we even went to his address and found him there and he just said he needs another 2 more days, the payment never happened and his mobile number was eventually disconnected.
We proceeded to make a police report (Report No: F/20160428/2183) and was instructed by the police to bring this to the Small Claims Tribunal. Desmond Tan never turned up for the hearing, and when the Court issued an order (Claim No: SCT/3325/2016) in our favour for him to pay within a month, he never paid a cent back to us. We got a property agent to check the ownership of that HDB property and it is indeed owned by him.
When we went back to his property, we found the tenant that was supposed to move out never left and is still there. The tenant informed that he is only renting 2 rooms and Desmond has kept one room locked for himself. He said he was totally unaware of Desmond’s actions to try to rent out his whole unit while he was still occupying the place.
This whole process has caused us unnecessary difficulty financially, stress, and has been very time consuming just to get to this point. I share this so that others do not fall into the same trap laid out by Desmond Tan Yew Jin or others like him.
Mun Lee
A.S.S. Contributor
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