Woman evicts tenant, grabs knife after he demands deposit back
When asked to return a rental deposit, a landlady in Yishun grabbed a kitchen knife and told the tenant: "Why don't you just kill me?"
According to Shin Min Daily News, the tenant, who hailed from Indonesia, had rented a room at Block 506B Yishun Ave 4 on July 16, through a Facebook listing.
"The landlord would bang on my door and scold me at 6am every morning, complaining that I dirtied parts of the house.
"Later I found out from researching online that this landlord was blacklisted," the tenant said.
At the end of July, he was told to move out by the landlady, who allegedly allowed two new tenants to move in before he could pack and leave.
The tenant then tried to get his $550 deposit back, but the landlady refused.
On Aug 9, he roped in relatives from Indonesia to negotiate with the woman.
Recalling the incident, he told Shin Min: "We didn't expect her to become so emotional; she rushed to the kitchen and took out a knife, and said, 'Why don't you just kill me?'"
The tenant lodged a police report the next day, and the landlord eventually returned $530 to him.
Speaking to a Shin Min, the landlady’s husband said his wife had actually intended to return the deposit, but was agitated after being confronted – so she pulled out a knife.
"She didn't intend to hurt anyone,” he said, adding that their reason for evicting the former tenant was because of his bad hygiene.
Called his workplace
After he moved out of the flat, the former tenant said the landlady called his workplace and raised concerns about his character, even asking for him to be fired.
"Thankfully, my boss wasn't angry," he said.
Another former tenant, surnamed Yang, 21, said the landlady had contacted his workplace as well.
Yang said he had moved into the flat on Aug 20, after paying a booking fee – but was told to leave after just one day.
"The landlord was very amicable when showing me around, but once I moved in he told me to clean up the room and toilet, and even told me to buy groceries for them without giving me the money to do so.
"He later demanded that I stop using their water and electricity."
The landlord would also enter the room to switch off the air conditioner, added Yang.
The next day, the landlord demanded that Yang pay the full rent upfront. He was evicted as he didn't have the money on him.
When asked about this incident, the landlady became agitated and refused to comment.
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