33-year-old single mother, Ms Xiao, gave birth last December and moved in with a relative after that.
She then decided to rent out the master bedroom of her condominium unit in Serangoon.
At the time, Ms Xiao had already rented out other rooms to 3 tenants.
After advertising online, Ms Xiao said a 20-year-old student from a private educational institute agreed to rent the room from her at S$1500 a month.
“At the time I told her the room is only meant for one person and she agreed.”
Shortly after she moved in, Ms Xiao said other tenants complained that the student would bring her boyfriend to live with her.
The student denied it, saying that her boyfriend was only visiting.
Then, Ms Xiao realised that the student didn’t transfer the rent payment to her bank account for Feb and Mar.
Later discovered that she had made a mistake and given the student the wrong bank account number.
“She said she would get the money back from the bank and then pay me the rent, but I waited till April and still haven’t gotten any money. Then she refused to pick up my calls.”
Ms Xiao went to the condo to confront the student.
She said that the student refused to open the bedroom door, and that her boyfriend was in the room at that time.
Ms Xiao said that even when she used her personal key to open the door, the tenant blocked her from entering and pushed her away.
“I called the police and demanded that she move out immediately, but the police said I can’t ask them to leave. In the end I just left. A few days later, when I went back to take a look, I discovered that they had already moved out. When I opened the bedroom door, I got such a shock I cried.”
Ms Xiao said the room was in shambles – the parquet flooring, wooden cupboards and tables were all destroyed
The room also appeared to have been tossed over and was in a complete mess.
Ms Xiao said she asked a contractor for a quote to renovate the room and was told it would cost her about S$10,000.
She is deciding on what to do next to resolve the issue.
