How's Your Relationship With Your Flat's Previous Owner?

[natadecoco 0]

we are going through the purchase procedure to buy a flat from a chinese family, uncle + auntie +2 kids..

they wanted us to give them 1 month after completion for them to stay, cos they need to reno their new house in order to move in. we agreed and proceed with all the hdb procedures.

upon completion, they suddenly say they cant move by 1 month, need 2 more weeks!

we were quite upset.. cos they promised to move by 1 month, irregardless of whether their reno is completed or not. and now, they want to extend more.. they keep pushing back the time-line to their advantage many times, first at HDB too, when they push back hdb's completion date, den now... which we think is super unfair to us

but yet, we dun wan to ruin the relationship, cos the flat is still in their hands..

what should we do??????

have you face problems with your ex-owners b4? will you just swallow it all cos the flat is still with them, and dun wan to create more problem?? help!!

Edited April 9, 2008 by natadecoco

[Topspin 1]

It may not work for all, but how about requesting that they allow some workers to come in to do minor reno work. The dust and noise will surely put them off and they will want to leave amicably. !! !!

[roonak 0]

Sheesh, just went thru that.

If you haven't already bought the flat, the option contract stipulates vacant possession. Seller has no right to live in flat after closing. In fact, once you buy you are 100% responsible for anything that happens to the flat. We ended up postponing the closing date with HDB several times until the seller moved.

I would not do the closing until they have vacated the flat. What are you going to do. Pay for the flat while someone else is living in it? no way lah.

[natadecoco 0]

oh no! u mean you can do that? postpone until they move? hmm, we should have done that...

but luckily they've finally agreed that they will move out 1 month after completion date.. i'm so relieve

[roonak 0]

Glad to hear things are working out for you, natadecoco.

Well, we had a hardnosed lawyer on our side who backed us up. The agents (including our agent) insisted it was OK to let the seller stay.

Seller started negotiating for an extra two months a week before closing.

But lawyer said that because the seller was essentially defaulting (failing to deliver vacant possession on closing date) it was our right to charge a late closing penalty. HDB would have backed us up on this. In the end, we closed about a week after the HDB-scheduled date after the seller moved into his new place. We didn't end up insisting on late closing penalty.

I was happy with the outcome. Didn't feel as though seller was taking advantage of us, we didn't have to postpone renovation plans, didn't have to structure an under the table short-term "rental", and didn't have to worry that the seller would postpone moving a second time. After closing we wouldn't have had the HDB backing us up on "vacant possession".

[ambien 0]

Glad to hear things are working out for you, natadecoco.

Well, we had a hardnosed lawyer on our side who backed us up. The agents (including our agent) insisted it was OK to let the seller stay.

Seller started negotiating for an extra two months a week before closing.

But lawyer said that because the seller was essentially defaulting (failing to deliver vacant possession on closing date) it was our right to charge a late closing penalty. HDB would have backed us up on this. In the end, we closed about a week after the HDB-scheduled date after the seller moved into his new place. We didn't end up insisting on late closing penalty.

I was happy with the outcome. Didn't feel as though seller was taking advantage of us, we didn't have to postpone renovation plans, didn't have to structure an under the table short-term "rental", and didn't have to worry that the seller would postpone moving a second time. After closing we wouldn't have had the HDB backing us up on "vacant possession".

wow you had a lawyer, good for you! i wrote an article on this on my housing blog. if you dont have a lawyer, it will be tough handling the resale transaction yourself. the sellers of my home did the same thing to me, asking for one month extension and then after that delaying and saying they deserve 2 more wks because they allowed us to have the 2nd appt with HDB 2 wks earlier. They also had a very scheming and sneaky housing agent who tried to intimidate and threaten us with policies which we seemingly were ignorant about. There were works in our house that had to be rectified by the seller but they managed to push them to us instead. In this case we had no choice cos if we didn't agree, we will be delaying indefinitely the completion of the sale. AND HDB doesn't care for such petty quarrels, saying that the issue had to be solved by us two parties, and without involving the HDB.

We eventually got our flat after much stress. I screamed, cried and prayed at the last week they were staying there. I cannot believe they could be so wicked and vicious to us. From a cordial relationship (i even tried to recommend the seller to my interior designer because he does fish ponds and gardens), we ended in animosity.

A couple of months later, their eldest son died. He just slumped over his computer when no one was home. So scary, but maybe it's fate. or bao ying, so they say...

[pipapoo 0]

I'm the exact opposite.

As a buyer, will you allow the seller to stay longer if you have no intention of occupying the house you just bought? Seller offered full market rental rate while he shop around for another house.

I sold my place at 20% less than market value and even help offset their downpayment for OTP (they sign OTP with another seller and decide to buy mine) and yet buyer refuse a simple extension when their intention was to leave the house vacant for whatever purposes I know not of.

I can't get my reno done on time and in the end, have to put up with ongoing reno.

Sometime, if possible and not at your inconvenience, have a bit of compassion, esp when seller is selling due to hardship.

[hihihi 0]

I also had something similar to share.

Seller wanted 1mth extra coz they say they offer low COV, ok fine. Give one step, take one step.

On the day they shifted, they even removed the below:

really can't believe it... gave them 1 mth and yet they return the "kindness" in this way.

should have charged them 1mth rental fee

[666 0]

So many horror stories..i oso bit scared now.

I placed deposit, exercised OTP.

agent say will register after 45 days, he will update me when he register. Then upon completion, 30 days to let them stay so that they can move their stuff to new house..

Now nearly 1 month gone, no news from agent...

My aunt previously had trouble with the previous owner, owner keep asking to extend for few weeks each time..till my aunt cannot tahan. Ask them to leave NOW..

Owner put glue on the locks..broke room locks, broke some stuff in the house...really veri bad.

[donut88 1]

to solve this issue is very easy.

just charge rental fees at full market price. simple. See how long the seller can tahan paying rental fees month after month.

get the agent to draft out a rental agreement and both sides signed on it.

in my case, i charge the buyer rental coz they wanted to move in earlier. I'm ok with that. just give me rental lor.

in fact, i'm happier coz i'm getting some extra $$.

The best part is i offset the rental from the agent's commission directly. No need to scare the buyer dun want to pay the rental on time.

there are ways to go around such problems.

[Alison Natalya 0]

For me, my ex-owner he suggest to give rental fees as his house reno also not yet finish.

I agree and they move out after 1 mth.

[roonak 0]

I had a problem with "rental" contracts since HDB doesn't allow rentals until after 3 year's occupation on resale flats. my agent recommended this but seller wanted a free rent period so it wasn't a consideration for me.

Couldn't have done it without a lawyer.