If you are an expat who is renting a home here in Singapore for the first time, here are some tips for you :
"Yielding up of property before handover"
this clause which is stated in your tenancy agreement basically means that you should return the property to your landlord in the same condition which was handed over to you other than the usual wear and tear.
Some examples are :
- hiring a professional cleaning service for a top to bottom clean up of the property
- dry / steam cleaning of the curtains and/or blinds
- restoring of any walls which holes were drilled for hanging frames / tv sets
- should any furniture drag marks or stains occur on tiled / marble flooring, professional polishing will help to restore the flooring
- should there be scratches on parquet flooring / timber decks, professional varnishing will help to restore the flooring
- if there are leakages from wc unit or shower, a plumber can resolve this
- replacing burnt out bulbs or lighting that is not working
- any other damages which requires minor repairs, you can engage a handyman to rectify
There are companies out there specialising in post-tenancy reinstatement services like the above works under one roof. Just google and you should be able to find one easily.
Hope the above post is helpful to all tenants in Singapore
Ending your property lease soon? What you need to know
I didn't have such a clause in my two rental contracts in Singapore (of which I wrote one myself - all the four other rentals and numerous subtenancies I had in Singapore were without written contract, only verbal agreement) and never had any problem.
It is common sense that on moving out you need to repair any damage and clean any dirt you caused. Doing that, and a good relationship between tenant and landlord (based on mutual trust and goodwill) is a better guarantee for no or few problems than any written contract (which is anyway difficult to enforce under Singapore law!).
Of course most property agents will tell you otherwise - that's why I generally avoid them and advice anybody else to do so too!
Hi Beppi, I don't think any landlord will want to rent out the property without a written contract. Under the law, the tenancy needs to be stamped and reported to IRAs and the tenant will get a fine if stamp duty is not paid. Do take note of this.
Hope this information is helpful.
As far as I know, subtenancies (i.e. renting a room, not a whole unit) do not need to be stamped.
For others, it may be legally required, but not always done (my experience). I paid stamp duty only once (the landlady wanted it), and even then only for the first two years - a subsequent renewal was done without.
Of course you can find such flexible arrangements only without agent. That's why I advise everybody to avoid them!
Renting a room, is not required a stamp duty as PUB bill will be under the name of owner of the house or who has taken the whole unit as rent. But, yes in some cases there is an one page agreement between tenant and owner. But when you need to rent a full unit, then stamp duty is must and PUB has to transfer under your name. And, HDB does show in its public domain stating that one unit recently transacted in block XYZ at S$ xyz price (without informing the unit number, tenant or owner name).
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