Jurong West landlord claims tenant owes $2,000, which he lent for her sick dad
His tenant was in tears when she asked him for money. The landlord lent it to her, but claimed she has yet to pay him back.
Mr Wang, 67, a retiree, told Shin Min Daily News he had rented out a room in Block 952 Jurong West Street 91 to a woman named Ms Zhang for over a year.
On June 17, she told Mr Wang that her father in China was sick and in hospital, and asked if she could borrow $2,500 from him.
“Since she always pays the rent on time, I decided to lend $1,000 and 5,200 yuan (S$990) to her.”
The tenant later told Mr Wang of her plan to change jobs and said she would be abroad while waiting for a new work permit.
Said Mr Wang: “She gave me an ATM card before leaving, and told me to use it to withdraw money in two weeks.”
So when she did not return home, he decided to try making a withdrawal with the ATM card. That’s when he found out there was only $13.80 in her bank account.
Mr Wang also claimed that the tenant has not paid him rent since July. He reported the matter to the police and went to the Small Claims Tribunal for help, only to discover that Ms Zhang had returned to work.
He said he was forced to throw some of her belongings away, but claimed she used that as an excuse not to pay rent.
“She left a lot of clothes, bedding and other items in the house, so we recycled them,” Mr Wang said. “But she told me that her belongings are very expensive and refused to pay the rent unless we returned them to her.”
When contacted, Ms Zhang told the Chinese evening daily that she had promised to pay her landlord back after returning to Singapore.
But she did not expect him to dispose of all her clothes, bags, shoes, skincare products and cosmetics. She also claimed that he had kept her perfume.
She said: “He told me to pay $2,000 and he would return them to me, but I insisted that he return my other belongings to me.
“I had lost so much, so how can I return the money?”
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