Couple gets duped by property agent even after viewing Newton apartment twice

They thought they had found their dream flat, but found themselves victims of a rental scam instead.

Despite verifying their property agent's licence and visiting the rental apartment twice, a couple lost $5,000 after the agent became uncontactable, reported Shin Min Daily News.

Wang, who is in his 40s, shared that he and his wife had started looking for a new apartment in October as the lease of their current HDB flat expires in December.

After his wife chanced upon a property agent's Facebook post about three-room HDB flats for rent in Toa Payoh, they contacted the male agent — who claimed to be part of a real estate agency — through WhatsApp.

"When we contacted him, he said that the flat has already been rented out and introduced us to another Newton condo apartment with a monthly rent of $2,500," Wang recalled. 

The agent later sent a video of the apartment to Wang and also arranged for a house viewing.

"After viewing the apartment twice, we were very satisfied with our new residence and decided to move in," said Wang.

He was then sent an electronic lease agreement to sign and told to pay a security deposit of two months' rent.

According to Wang, the lease was signed last Monday (Oct 23) after he paid the deposit, and the two parties agreed that the couple would move in on Dec 15.

[[nid:612638]]

But when he enquired about other issues such as the payable stamp duty, the property agent deflected his questions and said that it would be handled closer to the move-in date.

Just two days later, however, the agent became uncontactable.

Seeing that the agent had not responded after a long period of time, Wang lodged a police report on Friday (Oct 27). In response to Shin Min's queries, the police confirmed that they have received the report.

Agent not present during property viewings

Wang told the Chinese evening daily that the agent did not accompany him and his wife during the property viewings on Oct 20 and Oct 22.

During their first viewing, the agent reportedly said that he was busy serving other customers. The second time, the agent reportedly said that he was attending to family matters in Malaysia and could not accompany them again.

Instead, the couple were received by an intermediary agent on behalf of the real estate agency, who had the key to the apartment and unlocked the door for their visits.

Wang pointed out that he had mostly communicated with the intermediary agent via text messages and had only called each other once. He had also asked for the other party's estate agent licence for verification.

"We checked his license online and found that his name was registered with the Council for Estate Agencies. So we never expected that this would happen." 

Not the same person who accompanied them: Agency

Realising that he may have fallen for a scam, Wang visited the real estate agency on Oct 27 to investigate.

"They said that the agency does have such a property agent but denied that he was the same person who accompanied us at the house viewing," he recalled.

The couple hopes to get the money back as $5,000 is a huge sum to them, said Wang.

ALSO READ: Rental scam by 'property agent': 7 groups of 'tenants' show up at Toa Payoh flat to ask for refunds

lim.kewei@asiaone.co