Recently, a case of Landlord vs Tenant dispute caught our attention. It appeared on the news, and lots of comments on Social Media Channels and popular web forums.
We’ve also experienced cases involving disputes between Landlord and Tenant in the past.
From our knowledge and experiences, it is a rather challenging process, and Property Agents can only make representations regarding the facts, carry out instructions according to their clients, but really have no ability to “make the Tenant pay” or “chase the Tenant out”.
For example, there are Landlords who believe that since the Property Agents receive commission, then it is “the Responsibility” of “their agent” to ensure rental is promptly paid by the Tenant.
Unfortunately, the Property Agent (as a Salesperson), is not carrying out duties with regards to the collection of rent, and he/she will not even know whether the rent is promptly paid by the Tenant (directly to the Landlord).
Also, some Landlords think their Property Agents should have the “legal knowledge and experience” in getting the Tenants to pay up, and/or chase for any outstanding payments (compensation), and be able to serve “legal letters” upon the Tenants.
Now, of course the Property Agents will be willing to offer as much assistance as possible to resolve the problems encountered, but it needs to be made clear to all parties involved that the Agents are not “parties to the contract”, and are also not lawyers or even legal assistants and thus cannot be “tasked to solve” such problems that are in fact, a matter of contractual terms between Landlords and Tenants.
The correct procedure would be for the Landlord to engage the services of the lawyer for advice (or simply do a Google Search for some past references to similar cases). Property Agents can also offer such information (if they have had similar experiences in the past).
For those who need immediate answers, we found this “banner” below that will bring you to https://callalawyer.singaporelegaladvice.com/ and hopefully this will help save you some headaches.
There are many possible reasons behind why there is “Breach of Contract”. Until the facts are presented in Court, there is no way to say (100% sure) who is right or wrong. That’s why we have a legal system in place, but the aggrieved need to be willing to take action themselves otherwise nothing can be done at all.
Meanwhile, if you are interested to discover more about the Tenancy Dispute Case in reference, some links below.
Here are a few useful guides on “How to Evict Problem Tenant in Singapore”