Woman finds squatter in deceased father's home; he leaves unit in a mess along with $2,000 utility bill, Latest Singapore News - The New Paper
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Woman finds squatter in deceased father's home; he leaves unit in a mess along with $2,000 utility bill

This article is more than 12 months old

While sorting out her estranged father's assets after he died last year, a woman was shocked to discover that a man was living in her father's flat.

And when she visited the three-room flat at Block 85 Circuit Road, which was also her childhood home, to collect her father's belongings, she found it was cluttered with garbage. 

The woman, who declined to give her name, told Shin Min Daily News that her father died from an illness in September last year, and she had gotten the executor rights to the property in April. 

"My parents, grandma, brother and sister had lived in this flat for about 38 years... my parents later separated, and my siblings and I moved out with my mother in 2009. 

"We lost contact with our father and only found out about his death from the police at the end of September," she said. 

It was then she realised that a man known as "Mr Lu" had been living in the house, although she wasn't sure how long he'd been staying there.

Lu, however, allegedly refused to heed her repeated demands to move out of the flat.

He also left behind a $2,000 utility bill after the unit's electricity and water were cut off in January.

"Over the past year I've left him notes and called him to inform him that he has to move out. But he lied to the police that he's my father's relative," said the woman. 

As a last resort, the woman called the police last Saturday (Nov 12) and hired a locksmith to change the locks.

When reporters from Shin Min visited the flat last Saturday, they found four policemen outside the unit with a locksmith. No one was home. 

The flat was cluttered with junk, several Buddha statues, and a bicycle. Reporters also spotted insects crawling out from the unit.

After changing the lock, the woman left Lu a note informing him that the door had been locked and that his belongings would be cleared out. 

One neighbour Shin Min spoke to said Lu had been living in the flat for five years, together with the flat owner.

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