blue_skies

You can try Joo Chiat Complex. I think there are some shops selling curtains and accessories on the ground floor, and they can also custom make for you if you want. If you are looking for curtain rods to install yourself, you can buy from Spotlight. I bought some curtain rods from there last time, but the tricky part is transporting it coz it's quite long and may not fit into the car. Spotlight also sells accessories for the curtains and they have quite a few varieties roll up blinds there.

You can try this contact for replacing your sofa cushions. The shop is located at Toa Payoh. Tel. 96892377. I got my sofa cushions for my rosewood sofa set done by them. Hard cushion, very firm and yet not hot. Maybe you can ask them if they have any recommendation for re-finishing the wood.

If I'm not mistaken, epoxy paint scratches very easily. If that's the case, you'll have lots of problems with your chairs and even when you are moving into your house....

Hi Newlylanded One of my friend's parents re-build old houses and I've seen some of their houses. It's really nice, lots of light and makes good use of space. Do drop me a PM if you would like the contact.

Not too sure how it is for rental of commercial ppty, but for residential ppty, there is something known as a diplomatic clause which protects the tenant from paying any penalty if he is unable to fulfill his whole tenancy. Normally the diplomatic clause is for reasons like retrenchment, repatriation etc (especially applicable for foreigners). Normally the tenant has to fulfill at least 12 months of the 24 month tenancy. And if for whatever reason the tenant cannot even fulfill 12 mths of the tenancy, they are supposed to pay the outstanding no. of mths. You would need to really read every clause in the Tenancy Agreement to see if this is covered.

If you bought a HDB flat on the top floor which has a high ceiling (following the sloping shape of the roof), you would probably be able to build a small attic. I understand that it is not approved by HDB, meaning that it has to be removed if you are going to sell your house. My parents have one such attic but it is teeny, just enough to put a super single single mattress, and you got to watch where you walk otherwise you'll bump your head. They built the attic because our EA had one room knocked down and it was left with only 2 bedrooms and we needed one extra room. We've had it for over 5 yrs already, no problems with the structure. It's very solid and once 4 of us adults squeezed up there because the air con units in the other rooms died. Yes, that attic has got air-con too Do drop me a PM me if you need more details on building it.

My parents and I have used this law firm for many years already. Very nice husband and wife team. S.Y. Chuang and Co. 101 Upper Cross Street #08-16 People's Park Centre Tel. 65335046

I have a penthouse unit that comes with a spiral staircase and it's very stable.

Just to update: After writing in to Institue of Estate Agents in Dec 08 to find out what could be done about my situation, they replied saying that they couldn't do anything because the housing agents involved were not IEA registered. However they advised that the housing agents here were at fault and that I should try going to Small Claims Tribunal. So filled in all the necessary forms required for Small Claims. I just claimed the full commission paid to ERA ($5k). My claim was accepted, told to turn up for appt in court at end Feb. I just received a phonecall from ERA saying that they want to meet this week to refund me what I am claiming and ask me to withdraw the claim made to Small Claims Tribunal. So all's not lost. At least I'm going to get back $5k. Phew.

Have written in to Institute of Estate Agents (Singapore) to highlight this matter to them but do not know whether they will be proactive to do something about it or just ignore my complaint. Anyway might be tough for me to get back my money because contractually, there is nothing in the option to rent form that we sign with the agent & tenant that protects the house owners against this sort of tenant. Bottom line: Must be very careful with tenants. Never know who is a bad paymaster because looks can be very deceiving.

Just to share this is what happened to my husband and I. We wanted to rent our condo. Placed an advert for it, was approached by ERA who said they had a prospective tenant on hand. This was a local Singaporean with a family. I asked ERA if they had checked the background of the tenant, they said YES, already checked and even told me that the tenant ran his own business etc. Tenant wanted to rent for two years and paid one month's deposit by cheque as goodwill gesture. We then signed all the papers with ERA. A few days later, he paid the remaining requierd amount by cheque and moved into the house. Turns out the tenant's cheques never cleared. Kept chasing him to check but every time it bounced. By then I had already paid ERA their one month commission (for 2 yrs rental) 2 weeks after the tenant moved in, none of his cheques had cleared. Suspected something was very wrong. Contacted my lawyers who did a detailed background check and found that this tenant has court writs and summons against him! Told ERA that the tenant they found me couldn't pay a single cent and I requested for them to refund part of my commission. Fat hopes. I wrote them a formal letter explaining that they did not do their due diligence and they replied to me re-stating everything I had in reported speech and said that "... our associate had dispensed their full obligations to you and had also assisted in mediating with both parties to attempt resolving the said matter". This was the reply I received from their Customer Services representative. In the end, I had to get my lawyers to write a letter to force the tenant to vacate my place. In the process, I lost almost 12k altogether - 1k in lawyers fees, 5k in rental and 5k in commission to ERA, plus another 1k to do up my place again coz that tenant was so dirty and unkempt that no cleaning at all was done for 1 mth and my walls had dirt marks on them. Lesson learnt: 1. If you are renting out your house, do a detailed background check on the tenant using your own lawyers. DO NOT trust what the housing agent says. 2. Wait for cheques to clear before allowing tenant to move in. 3. Do not pay housing agent their commission until you received tenant's money. You are not obliged to pay them immediately upon signing of the documents. Let them send you the official invoice from the office before you pay them. 4. I will never let another ERA agent handle my transactions.