bengbeng

Just heard another case from my colleague. Her friend also kana similar case. This is getting more and more sickening. Wah lau.. I heard in other countries, if seller backs out, he needs to pay double the deposit. Singapore, the 'lawful' society, can't even protect its law-abiding citizens like us? By right shouldn't ask us seek legal help ourselves..HDB should hv helped..but then again, maybe they are opening up opportunities n giving more assignments to lawyers to sustain the economy? What can we do? We are just small fish here.

Agree with Cruise! My wife and I already gave up. The seller offered to do installment but dunno how long. He's an odd job worker..don't think can get $$ easily as he can't even qualify for bank loans. I think he's resorting to loan sharks n stuff. Checked with police, they dun handle such case. Suggested us to handle wif HDB. Asked lawyer, but must pay lawyer consultation fee. The letter of demand alrd costs $200-300 then dunno how much overall legal fee. It's just not worth it. These PRC wives are threatened la coz they are uneducated n come here with long term social visit pass cannot get jobs. The husband also stupid, never asked the wife properly. Anw, phew..wish us luck so the process of buying our new resale flat is smooth! (Waiting to attend 1st appt nxt month). Bottomline, vote wisely!

No one can help. HDB should have helped the commoners like us, especially sincere first-timer buyers who cannot wait for BTO. We must settle it by legal means ourselves..yeah it means forking out extra cash to get justice! Til now, our ex-seller has not returned us the deposit. We're getting legal help. Coz i think justice needs to be uphold! It's our hard-earned money so we deserve it back. I hope the govt will look into the matter. Please do not fall into this kind of trap like we did. All the best in getting ur resale flat! (:

Hey nope, the wife isn't the co-owner of the house. Only 1 seller for the house. Guy is the only seller hence the wife didn't sign OTP. They just need her to sign spouse's consent. So OTP is valid. But I even checked with lawyer friends around that this case is quite grey. Dun think can go to that Singapore Mediation for Law. Not for this. Anyway, Nvm lah we already let it go. We found another unit.. A much better one (:

I seriously feel that HDB has to do something about this. They need to protect SERIOUS BUYERS who are buying resale flats. At least, they need to have the legal authority or act upon the OTP as it is a legal contract. They should just issue warning to seller to return the $5k or get the compensation for our waiting time bla bla bla... Yet, they just "wash hand" and let us press charges at our own cost (most people like us just wing it coz it's not worth it as the lawyer fee is too high). But I wonder.. WHERE IS JUSTICE? And I did ask a question, " In that case, people can cheat money easily. Just put up their house in the market. Get a serious buyer and got the $5k deposit, then seller write letter to HDB revoke the case and the case is cancelled. Most buyers have no $$ and won't pursue legal charges at most police report (in which police also cannot do much since it's not stealing whatsoever? --> from what my friends told me). Isn't it unfair for buyers?" the officer replied, "That's why we kept it to the $5k max." I don't know how many Singaporeans feel the $5k is nothing to them?

Hey all, Thought of updating here and I hope this serves as a warning to those who are buying a resale flat! Background story: We're first timer buying resale flat. As we could not wait for the long wait of BTO & there's simply no BTO at our preferred location so we went to buy a resale flat with the high hopes we could move in soon (within 4-5 months). We found a good deal and exercised OTP. Since we had gotten our HLE, we immediately exercised our OTP & paid the $5k deposit to a Chinese Singaporean owner who seemed genuine to sell. We went for our first appointment (got all our documents ready), only to find out the HDB Officer could not proceed with the case as the seller's wife, NOT an owner, a foreigner (PRC under long-term visit pass) refused to sign the Spouse's consent. However, the seller and the seller's agent pleaded the HDB Officer to postpone the case for 2 weeks, so HDB gave our case 2-week extension. FYI, Remember this! Although your seller is the sole seller of the house, he/she still must get the consent of the wife/husband. So better ask your agent to check properly. We know this is the seller's agent's fault as he was the one who reassured the seller was eligible to sell & was super serious about selling the hse. Anyway, cut long story short, we went for our re-scheduled appointment and both the seller & seller's agent didn't turn up. ****ty as you must say. The HDB Officer then cancelled and revoked the case. We wasted 3 months waiting (waiting for 1st appointment & 2-week extension). We needed the hse soon as we currently are renting a place (thought it'd be just a short stay before we move in to our new hse). No house, nothing. The seller has no money to pay us back (although we're still threatening him to pursue legal charges or at least do whatever we can do to get our $5k back). Funny, when we asked HDB Officer whether she could help us do the paperwork so we can get the $5k deposit back, here was her reply: 1. Deposit is between buyer & seller. HDB has no control over it. We should pursue it legally should seller refuses to return. 2. That's why the deposit is capped to $5k max so people won't lose out too much $$ (WHAT NONSENSE!!! Don't you think $5k is precious to you?) Anyway, I just wanna share my painful experience to all and hope you guys can be careful. They keep on saying it's buying from the Open market so there will be risks involved. I hope nobody else experiences this. P.S. The officer said this case (the cancellation due to spouse's consent) is getting more common these days (it used to be rare case in the past). Mostly come from PRC wives (they wanted $$$ from the husband so they made the process difficult). It is weird coz these women are not even PRs, they are here under Long-term visit pass with husbands' sponsor. Thanks to all who replied & shared your thoughts on this. It's encouraging to know that.

Hi, Thanks for your advice! Actually, I am also wondering how are we protected by law? HDB officers also cannot help. I'm not sure how much is lawyer fee. Haiz, this resale transaction is such a hassle. Some more the process takes so long around 4 months. We bought resale coz want to move in earlier instead of the long wait of BTO. Moreover, no recent BTO project near my preferred area. I think it's the seller's agent fault who did not do a proper check on the seller whether he has the wife's consent although she isn't the owner. ****! My agent luckily quite dependable..at least he followed through this tiring process! Anw thanks all for your advices n suggestions. Have a nice day all!

Hi! Thank you all for your suggestions. Unfortunately since HDB has not cancelled our case, we cannot look for another house. The owner gets extension 3 weeks to get the wife's signature (although the situation now looks bleak and seems it's gonna be cancelled anyway). **** it. Waste time only!! Worse still, I'm renting a place now after my wedding end of last year, thinking it will be a short-term stay before getting our house key. My agent suggested to sue the owner for breach of OTP since he has caused all the inconveniences (especially the time wastage n additional rental). And he said it's surely a win-case? We actually rather sue and get the house than $5k back (I doubt he has the money as he cashed in the cheque the same day we paid the deposit). Anyone has any friends who have gone through similar experience? Suing the seller for breach of OTP? We're still hopeful since we like the house for its good location.

Hi all, I need your kind advice. We signed OTP and paid $5k deposit in mid-Nov 2012, bought from a single seller. We went for our first appointment in Jan only to find out the seller's wife (although she's not an owner) refused to sign the consent form of selling the house & "disappeared" from Singapore as she's a foreigner. However, even though the husband came for 1st appointment, HDB cannot proceed with the sale. They just wash hand and ask us to sue the owner. Has anyone engaged a lawyer before in similar situation (i.e. breach of OTP)? How much is the lawyer's fee and how long does the process take roughly? Do you think we can win the lawsuit since the owner is also a "victim" in this case? And worse, the owner has no money. He has history of loan shark harassing although now he has cleared his debt (so as he claimed). Even if we sue him for Liquidated Damages, he will be declared of undischarged bankrupt rite? Can I sue him to sell the property instead? Many thanks for your help!