Family Skips On Rent (Bungalow ), Turns Violent And Resist Arrest

therat · June 7, 2013

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20130607-428354.html

AsiaOne
Friday, Jun 07, 2013

SINGAPORE - A woman who refused to pay up two months of rent ended up in a stand-off with police officers on Thursday afternoon, resulting in the arrest of her three children who had behaved violently towards them.

The incident at a Paya Lebar Crescent bungalow began at about 4pm.

According to Shin Min Daily Evening News, the landlord, identified as Madam Qiu, 55, called the police after her tenants, a single mother who is unemployed, and her three teenage children, 2 boys aged 17 and 12, and a girl, aged 16, after they failed to pay their arrears.

They also refused to move out, despite Madam Qiu's request for them to do so. She eventually called the police, but the family locked themselves inside the bungalow.

At 5.10pm, the Singapore Civil Defence (SCDF) received a call to break open the entrance to the house. Nine police officers were seen entering the house with protective shields.

A teenage girl became agitated upon seeing the officers. As she screamed at them, she struck and kicked at the police shields. A female police officer managed to subdue her after a brief struggle.

The two boys also resisted arrest. The older boy put up a violent struggle, but six police officers managed to subdue him. Both boys were handcuffed and taken to the police station.

The mother, who did not put up resistance, was not arrested. But she was seen running after her children as they were led to a waiting police car. She was heard screaming: "Don't take away my children!"

According to the Chinese evening daily, this is the not the first time the family had a stand-off.

Family of 4 locks themselves in house after refusing to pay rent

The same family were in the news for a similar incident in 2011.

Handcuffed

When queried by the media, the police said the teens, including the 12-year-old boy, were handcuffed to ensure their security and that of the officers at the scene.

The two boys had refused to cooperate with the police when asked to go to the police station for questioning.

They had behaved in a threatening manner towards the officers, said the police.

The girl was arrested because she had verbally abused and attacked police officers during the stand-off.

Tenants did not pay rent

According to Madam Qiu, the family of four had not paid rent amounting to $3,000 for the past two months.

She had previously cut off water and electricity supplies to the house twice in a bid to get them to move out. She resorted to doing this again yesterday morning, but the family still refused to budge.

Before this incident, they had paid rent for January and February, together with a deposit.

Madam Qiu told Shin Min that the police had to force their way into the house as her tenants locked themselves in and refused entry to her.

T

he older brother had also threatened Madam Qiu on May 22, when she went to take measurements of the family's water usage. She made a police report for that too.

When Shin Min interviewed the older brother, he said the family decided to discontinue paying rent as they believed that Madam Qiu was not the rightful owner of the property.

He added that the family had paid two months of rent plus a deposit equivalent to a month's rent.

This amounted to $4,500.

He said: "We asked to see (Madam Qiu's) title deed to prove she was the owner of the house, but she refused. So we decided not to pay her rent for April and May."

To refute his claim, Madam Qiu showed Shin Min's reporter documents to prove she is indeed the owner.

Not the first time

This is the not first time the family is in the news for not paying rent.

According to a Shin Min report in November 2011, the same family had rented a semi-detached house in Siglap for $2,600 a month. But they stopped paying rent after 2 months and owed $31,200 in arrears.

In that incident, they also refused to allow houseowner to enter the premises, resulting in a 6-hour stand-off.

cynloh@sph.com.sg

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Season tenant who like to stay at landed property and refused to pay rental and refused to move.

Jobless mother still can afford to stay at landed property.

What kind of education she is teaching her off-spring

For all landed landlord, take note.

The 16-year-old daughter pinned to the ground and handcuffed after she kicked and clawed at police officers

The mother running after her children after they were led to the police car

The 17-year-old son was arrested and taken back to the police station after resisting arrest

therat · June 9, 2013

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2...09-428540.html

Family evicted not once, but five times

AsiaOne
Sunday, Jun 09, 2013

SINGAPORE - A woman and her three children who got into a two-hour standoff with the police after refusing to pay rent to their landlord last Thursday have been evicted not just once, but five times.

This was revealed to Shin Min Daily News by the landlord caught up in the most recent incident, Madam Khoo.

She told the Chinese evening daily that she learnt her tenant, Ms Chng, had been previously evicted for after engaging a lawyer to handle the case.

He told her that his checks showed Ms Chng have been evolved in four previous eviction cases for failing to pay rent.

The family, including two brothers aged 17 and 12 and a sister aged 16, had rented terraces and semi-detached houses in places like Yio Chu Kang, Serangoon and Payar Lebar.

Previous houseowners had to call in bailiffs to issue the family with notices to vacate their premises.

In an interview with Shin Min, Ms Chng said she had to move house 10 times in the last 17 years with her children in tow, because her landlords failed to keep up their end of the bargain. She alleged that they did not properly maintain the premises. For this reason, she would find a new place to stay each time her tenancy contract expired.

Home-schooled

Ms Chng also said that her children had not gone to school in the last five years, with her youngest son, 12, attending Primary 1 for only half a year before she allowed him to drop out.

Family of 4 locks themselves in house after refusing to pay rent

She told Shin Min that their constant moving added to the children's stress, on top of school work. Her younger son's textbooks were even thrown away by the landlord in a previous rental dispute she was involved in, so she decided to home-school her children instead.

She also felt that the school system had too much emphasis on grades. Her children were not faring well in Chinese either, as they were primarily an English-speaking family.

Ms Chng added: "I bought encyclopaedias and books on law for them to read. During holidays, I will bring them to the zoo or the bird park to add to their knowledge."

She also said that all her children were very responsible, as they knew how to look after themselves.

Children were protecting each other

When asked why her children attacked the police on Thursday, she said that they were protecting each other.

"My younger son became agitated when he saw the police take his brother and sister away. He wanted to protect them.

The boy told the reporter that he became upset when they used abusive language at his mother and tried to chase them out of the house.

Ms Chng said that her children became wary after Madam Khoo tried to evict them.

Family adopted 2 large stray dogs

When asked why the family rented landed property, Ms Chng said they adopted two large stray dogs and could not rent smaller apartments.

She also said that she believed that Madam Khoo was not the owner of the house, so she did not continue paying rent to Madam Khoo, after the latter refused to show her evidence that she was the owner of the house.

cynloh@sph.com.sg