Non Payment Tenant

[joey8 2]

I have rented my house to a local family who are doing business. They told me that they cannot make full payment this month. They drive Mercedes and with very posh furniture.

I accepted the partial payment. More than half month past. The other part of payment of the month is due and they didn't answer my SMS for the rental.

What should I do? Do you think will they be a good tenant in future?

I don't think they are a good tenant. They already default yr payment once, won't they default another time?

[treeOfLife 0]

Hi TreeOfLife,

my hse also has bn rented to a local malay/indian mixed family. they nvr pay on time from 2nd mths onwrds.

so far they still respond to my prompting. i hv went to my hse once and met them together with their agent and mine. that's in the 7th mth when the delay has become a challenge.

what my tenant always did was he promise a date for payment, say 5th of the mth. by that day, he nvr pay. com up with alot of excuses.

To cut the story short, som how or rather, he manages to pay, but not without much prompting from me & my agent.

I hv aso learn to know my rights within the agreement. i always serve him notice/warning with a deadline & followingup action. i specifically tell him that once no paym is recvd on the deadline, notice of termination will commence, say 2weeks. i try not to 'eat' into the 1mth advance paym that i n holding onto, as he may need to compensate on any damages to my property. once times up, they shall be evacuated regardless with furniture or not.

so far, my tenant knows my limit and he has yet to cross them.

Hi there,

Mine is also malay/indian mixed family. What a coincidence! I think I made mistake that I wanted to rent my house too eagerly. I did notice something was not right at the beginning. When I asked their agent why they wanted to move out of their current home, he said that the landlord wanted to increase the rental to ridiculous high. I didn't think hard on this. Now it is very obvious to me why the landlord wanted to do it.

Mine is only in the 5th month. But before that, every month, we had to chase for the payment with lots of SMS exchanges between me, agent and him. It is really quite ridiculous.

I guess, I have to do the same thing with what you did, serving termination notice in some point of time if nothing improving.

Thanks.

[treeOfLife 0]

Your case sounds familiar. My uncle had a tenant like that some years back and it is also a family of 3. As they claim most of time travelling, so a nos. of time my uncle went to collect rent always not around ....only the daugther was around. But when things in the house were damage or spolit very fast to call.

After a non-payment of rent for 3 months, my uncle asked me and elder bro to go to the apartment with him. Didn't know my uncle was so pissed that he asked the daugther to contact her parents and come back now or she is going to sleep outside. (the couple claimed to be overseas, but when told of this showed up in 45mins)

Couple explained that the reasons they didn't pay rent b'cos there were items in the apartment were not working and they will only pay if the items were rectified. (claiming that the items in the house were all very old) That pissed my uncle even more. He immediately ask me go to his car, take the renovation document + all the electrical appliances that were purchased before the family moved in. Effectively the family had a brand new apartment. Couple than change tune and says business bad .....says will pay be end of the week. Uncle told the tenant, it is by 23:59 or evict.

LL the couple issued a cheque immediately, but uncle didn't want to take it and asked the family to go en-cash it immediately. Then badminton game start again..... even offer to leave his Rolex watch. Uncle was determine to get the rental payment or evict. Eventually, the tenant says they don't have money to pay and ask for 2 weeks for them to move out.

Luckily you have so many men in your house!

[sparrow101 0]

Luckily you have so many men in your house!

it's not difficult to find 'people' if you wish to evacuate your tenant.

lik i said before, serve lease termination notice, via official letter better.

upon a day after the deadline, if they r still around, call the agent & the police base on trespassing of private property.

noone will have more right then you, the owner of your property.

Edited October 18, 2010 by sparrow101

[blueCrystal 1]

I have been once bitten, twice shy. Lost money because of such a tenant and they killed my plants in the process coz they didn't bother to look after them! My previous tenant was a local family of 3 (husband, wife & daughter) , said that they ran businesses in Brunei blah blah blah and travel a lot, hardly at home. The guy can sign cheque but cheque never cleared! Keep saying that it's a problem with the bank. BS.

Just curious - how long have your tenants been staying there? And is this the first time that they cannot pay the rent?

If they just moved in and cannot pay rent, I would be very suspicious.

1) I would call my lawyers to send them a registered letter (Notice of eviction) if they do not pay by a certain date. I would give them another 2 weeks max if I were you. You still have the 1mth or 1/2 mth deposit money?

2) If you have the name of the company that they own, get your lawyer to do a search to see if the tenants are running a bogus company and if the individuals / company they own also owes money to other people. (Happened in my case!)

3) If the tenants still do not pay up by the stated date, you have the right to enter the house and kick them out (I had to literally do that!) Would help if you have some rusty faced people with you Hope that you don't have to resort to that though.

If they have been staying at your place for over a year and now this happens, I would give them chance, but still send them lawyers letter to inform them of interest owed and that they would be evicted if they do not pay up (with interest) by a certain date.

How about their furniture in the apartment if you enter the house and they refuse to move out?

Edited October 18, 2010 by blueCrystal

[treeOfLife 0]

I have been once bitten, twice shy. Lost money because of such a tenant and they killed my plants in the process coz they didn't bother to look after them! My previous tenant was a local family of 3 (husband, wife & daughter) , said that they ran businesses in Brunei blah blah blah and travel a lot, hardly at home. The guy can sign cheque but cheque never cleared! Keep saying that it's a problem with the bank. BS.

Just curious - how long have your tenants been staying there? And is this the first time that they cannot pay the rent?

If they just moved in and cannot pay rent, I would be very suspicious.

1) I would call my lawyers to send them a registered letter (Notice of eviction) if they do not pay by a certain date. I would give them another 2 weeks max if I were you. You still have the 1mth or 1/2 mth deposit money?

2) If you have the name of the company that they own, get your lawyer to do a search to see if the tenants are running a bogus company and if the individuals / company they own also owes money to other people. (Happened in my case!)

3) If the tenants still do not pay up by the stated date, you have the right to enter the house and kick them out (I had to literally do that!) Would help if you have some rusty faced people with you Hope that you don't have to resort to that though.

If they have been staying at your place for over a year and now this happens, I would give them chance, but still send them lawyers letter to inform them of interest owed and that they would be evicted if they do not pay up (with interest) by a certain date.

Thanks for your information!

How much to engage a lawyer to write a notice of eviction? I feel that the letter is pretty easy to write, do we have to engage a lawyer here for writing the letter? I guess we need to have a lawyer to do a credit search. Do I have to have a lawyer to write eviction letter, apply for court order for real eviction. I don't think I'll get some rusty faced people to go there physically by myself. I believe court can help landlord to get police and sheriff to do the work. The whole process needs to start with civil law suit.

[blue_skies 3]

How about their furniture in the apartment if you enter the house and they refuse to move out?

They would have received a letter from the lawyers telling them to vacate the place with their belongings by a certain date & time, failing which the landlord will enter the premises and repossess the place.

Whatever furniture they have left behind - if you think it's worth keeping, keep it. If you think it's awful and not worth keeping, dump it or ask karung guni / second hand furnitute shop people to come and collect.

But get them out of the house first. The tenants had the cheek to tell me that they needed time to pack up and move out. I gave them 2 hours. Went into the rooms and told them to empty all the wardrobes of their stuff. They said got no bags. I took out black garbage bags for them. After that I stood there and make sure they pack their stuff. Once cupboards emptied, I took back all the keys from them and asked them to leave the condo. It was really ugly but they are cheats and owed so many people money that I didn't even sympathise with them.

They were actually running from place to place to avoid the banks / creditors catching up with them. I recall (from my lawyer's search of Writ of Summons), that they actually owed a total of about $95K to 20 different people / companies since 1997! Btw in case anyone has the unfortunate event of having them as tenants, this was a local Malay family of husband, wife and teenage daughter.

[blue_skies 3]

Thanks for your information!

How much to engage a lawyer to write a notice of eviction? I feel that the letter is pretty easy to write, do we have to engage a lawyer here for writing the letter? I guess we need to have a lawyer to do a credit search. Do I have to have a lawyer to write eviction letter, apply for court order for real eviction. I don't think I'll get some rusty faced people to go there physically by myself. I believe court can help landlord to get police and sheriff to do the work. The whole process needs to start with civil law suit.

I think it was between $300-$400 for everything including the searches etc coz they will also submit a writ to the court or something like that.

If you engage a lawyer, it holds more weight because this can also be used in court. I'm not sure if you need a lawyer to do the credit search. I understand it can be done on Questnet, but you need to register or pay a fee for the search results.

You don't need to go to court to evict them. The lawyer's letter and Tenancy Agreement (if you have done it up properly) will give you enough rights to repossess the place if they do not pay up. If the tenants play hardball and don't want to leave the house, or if they get violent, then you should call the police in.

A civil law suit sounds like a long drawn out process which means the tenants would still have the liberty of "camping" in the place for free.

[bepgof 20]

It was really ugly but they are cheats and owed so many people money that I didn't even sympathise with them.

Hungry makes angry, sure looks ugly. Why hungry? No money lor

Edited October 19, 2010 by bepgof

[datou 0]

I have been renting house for 5 yrs and i always pay on time, never late payment. Now I bought my own house. I think you better terminate the tenant and find a new one. If not you have to chase them every month for the payment which is very tiring.

[treeOfLife 0]

I have been renting house for 5 yrs and i always pay on time, never late payment. Now I bought my own house. I think you better terminate the tenant and find a new one. If not you have to chase them every month for the payment which is very tiring.

Things supposed should work this way like what you did. I don't think I'll chase them for payment. It should be the other way around. They should make sure that they need to pay on time or loosing their home.

Singapore has law, isn't it?

[Roflmaoxz 0]

I think it was between $300-$400 for everything including the searches etc coz they will also submit a writ to the court or something like that.

If you engage a lawyer, it holds more weight because this can also be used in court. I'm not sure if you need a lawyer to do the credit search. I understand it can be done on Questnet, but you need to register or pay a fee for the search results.

You don't need to go to court to evict them. The lawyer's letter and Tenancy Agreement (if you have done it up properly) will give you enough rights to repossess the place if they do not pay up. If the tenants play hardball and don't want to leave the house, or if they get violent, then you should call the police in.

A civil law suit sounds like a long drawn out process which means the tenants would still have the liberty of "camping" in the place for free.

My tenant rented a room from me for almost 4 years, I decided to give him one month notice effectively next mth, but my Tenancy Agreement ended in April this year and a new agreement was not redrafted after April.

Is there any implication if I give him one mth notice to move out?

[blue_skies 3]

My tenant rented a room from me for almost 4 years, I decided to give him one month notice effectively next mth, but my Tenancy Agreement ended in April this year and a new agreement was not redrafted after April.

Is there any implication if I give him one mth notice to move out?

Since you do not have a new agreement (after the TA expired in April), there is no binding agreement for the tenant to continue living at your place for $X rental/mth. I don't see any problem with you asking him to vacate in a mth's time. After all, it seems that you allowing your tenant to stay at your place for $X rental/mth since April without TA is a goodwill gesture. I hope that you still have his deposit? (In case he damages anything before he moves out... but sounds like you and your tenant are on amicable terms so hopefully nothing of this sort happens)

[Roflmaoxz 0]

Since you do not have a new agreement (after the TA expired in April), there is no binding agreement for the tenant to continue living at your place for $X rental/mth. I don't see any problem with you asking him to vacate in a mth's time. After all, it seems that you allowing your tenant to stay at your place for $X rental/mth since April without TA is a goodwill gesture. I hope that you still have his deposit? (In case he damages anything before he moves out... but sounds like you and your tenant are on amicable terms so hopefully nothing of this sort happens)

Thanks blue_skies for replying. In fact I have redrafted a new agreement after the expiry to "cover ourselves". I passed it to him to go thru' it and signed, before I signed, so that he can get it stamped at IRAS. But he has not returned it back to me since.

Nothing serious happen, just that my wife is finding fault with his "cleanliness" problem, plus he has been delaying in payment 2-3 days after the due date, which we disliked.

[treeOfLife 0]

I have rented my house to a local family who are doing business. They told me that they cannot make full payment this month. They drive Mercedes and with very posh furniture.

I accepted the partial payment. More than half month past. The other part of payment of the month is due and they didn't answer my SMS for the rental.

What should I do? Do you think will they be a good tenant in future?

Another update.

For the partial payment, I finally got the full payment near the end of the month.

But for this month payment, the check is bounced. What kind of people will try to live in ones place and try not to pay!!!

They just came to talk to me to make partial payment for 3 month over the holiday period. I agreed. But even the partial payment check is bounced.

I sms them and didn't hear from them.