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| Tenancy Agreement |
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here!
Through our years of experience with expats, we have
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in Singapore. Ranging from all your relocating needs,
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About Tenancy Agreement
After the Letter of intent is duly signed. The landlord will
prepare the Tenancy Agreement. Any legal fees incurred for
the drawing up of the agreement is usually borne by the
tenant. However, if the landlord's agreement is acceptable,
there will usually not be any legal fees involved.
If the landlord or the landlord's agent is using the
standard IEA agreement, it should be fine. Your agent will
then ensure that the Tenancy Agreement is fair and unbiased.
You will need to prepare the rest of the security deposit
and advance rental upon signing of the Tenancy Agreement.
For 1 year lease - 1 month's deposit and 1 month's advance
rental. For 2 years lease - 2 month's deposit and 1 month's
advance rental. Minus the goodfaith deposit (if applicable)
that you have paid when signing the Letter of Intent.
These are the important terms you should take note of when
signing the Tenancy Agreement:
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Diplomatic or
Escape Clause and Reimbursement Clause
Check for this clause. This clause is to safe guard
you if in the event you are no longer employed,
transferred to other countries, you can terminate the
lease after 12 months by giving 2 months notice.
Thereafter, the security deposit will be refunded to
you. Please note that most landlords will only include
the diplomatic clause if the lease is more than a year.
In a standard Singapore Tenancy Agreement, there is
usually the reimbursement clause together with the
diplomatic clause. This clause states that if you
exercise the diplomatic clause, you will have to
reimburse part of the commission the landlord had paid
to his agent.
The reason behind this clause is that the landlord had
paid the full one month's agent commission for a 2 years
lease but if you terminate the lease by exercising the
diplomatic clause, hence unable to complete the full 2
years, you will have to refund the pro-rata commission.
Since landlord grants the diplomatic clause, they will
usually demand reimbursement clause to be included in
the tenancy agreement.
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- Public Utilities, Telephone and
Cable Television
The installation charges and the monthly bills for
the following services are the tenant's responsibility:
- SP Services: the water and electricity supply.
- City gas: piped gas in selected areas.
- Singapore Telecom: residential telephone line.
- Starhub Cable Vision (SCV): cable television and
cable broadband internet.
Although at times the tenant can request for some of the
fixed bills to be included in the rental amount as a
package.
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Repairs and
Maintenance
The tenant is responsible for maintaining the leased
premise, carry out minor repairs at own costs. In a
standard agreement, the tenant will only be responsible
if the amount of the repair does not exceed S$100 or
S$150.
Only major repairs and maintenance would be the
landlord's responsibility provided that the damage or
malfunction of appliances is not caused by the tenant's
negligence.
The tenant will have to take up service contract for
items such as air-conditioning, gardening, pest control
or pool servicing.
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Rental Amount
Check the rental amount. Sometimes the landlord will
divide the rental amount into a. rental of premises, b.
rental of furniture and fittings, c. maintenance fees.
Just make sure it adds up to the correct amount that you
have agreed.
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Stamp Duty
In Singapore, Tenancy Agreement will need to be
stamped by the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore.
Only after the Tenancy is stamped then it can be
considered a valid contract as evidence in court for any
disputes that may arise in the future with your
landlord. This is to protect the interest of both
parties. The stamp duty is usually borne by the tenant.
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