'She was in tears': Jurong West landlord says tenant disappeared after borrowing $2,000 from him for sick dad

One landlord in Jurong West has said that he lost $2,000 after 'lending' money to his tenant.

Wang, 67, had rented out a room in Block 952 Jurong West Street 91 to a female tenant named Zhang Ying Ying (transliteration) for over a year, Shin Min Daily News reported on Tuesday (Dec 26).

The retiree said that on June 17, Zhang told him that her father in China was hospitalised after falling ill, and needed to borrow money from him urgently.

"She first approached my wife, but was rejected," Wang said. "She then turned to me and asked for $2,500. She was in tears at that time."

"Since she always pays the rent on time, I decided to lend $1,000 and 5,200 yuan (S$990) to her."

Wang said Zhang told him on June 22 that she planned on changing jobs, and would be travelling overseas while waiting for a new permit.

"She gave me an ATM card before leaving, and told me to use it to withdraw money in two weeks," Wang said, adding that she would deposit the money that she owed him into the card.

But after the tenant did not return home, Wang used the ATM card to withdraw money.

He said that while the pin number was correct, the bank account balance was only $13.80.

"My tenant has not paid rent since July," he said, adding that he had lodged a police report in August and went to the Small Claims Tribunal to seek recourse - only to find out that the woman had returned to Singapore to work.

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Wang said that he had no choice but to throw his some of his tenant's belongings away, after the latter refused to pay rent since July and blocked him from contacting her. 

The landlord also accused Zhang of using that as an excuse to default on the rent. It wasn't reported how much rent she owes Wang. 

"She left a lot of clothes, bedding and other items in the house, so we recycled them," Wang said. "But she told me that her belongings are very expensive and refused to pay the rent unless we returned them to her."

Wang said this incident has caused plenty of friction in his family.

"I am diagnosed with glaucoma, and I'm blind in one eye," he said. "My wife was previously unaware that the tenant had borrowed money from me. I'm in trouble."

'How can I return the money?'

Responding to the accusations against her, Zhang told Shin Min Daily News that she had previously agreed to pay what she owed to her landlord after returning to Singapore.

She said that Wang had unexpectedly thrown her personal belongings away, which caused plenty of stress to her.

"When I borrowed money from the landlord in June, I promised that I would return to Singapore to pay it back to him," Zhang said. "But when I was in China, Wang's wife kept sending me WeChat messages asking me to pay back the money."

Zhang said that her new work permit was not approved until mid-July, but the landlord had already disposed of all her clothes, bags, shoes, skin care products and cosmetics.

Adding that her landlord kept her perfume, she said: "He told me to pay $2,000 and he would return them to me, but I insisted that he return my other belongings to me.

"I had lost so much, so how can I return the money?"

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chingshijie@asiaone.com