More expatriates have become victims of tricky landlords, dodgy tenancy agreements, disappearing deposits and other rental snares.

According to the Consumers Association of Singapore (Case), foreigners lodged 32, out of a total of 365, complaints against real estate agents from last October to March this year.

This was a 23 per cent increase from the 26, out of 516, complaints within the same period a year earlier .

The Institute of Estate Agents itself has received five complaints from foreigners since last October. None of the agents mentioned was registered with it.

Case executive director Seah Seng Choon said that most of the complaints it received concerned rental agreements.

Commonly cited were overcharging and failure to honour agreements, especially with regard to refunds.

The onset of the economic crisis, with many retrenched foreigners terminating their leases early, may be a push factor for rogue agents.

Mr Chris Koh, a director at realty company Dennis Wee Group, said: ‘There are probably dishonest agents acting alone, desperate to collect their full commission, who resorted to underhand tactics to withhold deposits.’

American technician Robert Jones, 36, and Mauritian IT professional Ashwin Ramdeehul, 29, spoke to The Sunday Times. They claimed they were cheated out of their deposits by the same person they had separately contacted.

Both had sought an HDB flat to rent, and had contacted an ‘agent’ through his advertisement.
When taken to view their prospective units, they were introduced to the ‘landlord’, a 40-year-old woman.

In Mr Jones’ case, he signed a tenancy agreement with her on Feb 20 to rent a four-room HDB flat in Woodlands for $1,050 a month. He wanted to move in without delay as his wife was due to give birth to their first child soon.

He said that in his haste to rent, he did not pursue the fact that the owner was listed as someone else, but the ‘landlord’ on the documents was listed as the woman.

After paying her $5,250 (the deposit plus four months’ rent), he then found he was unable to contact her. Anxious, he approached the owner’s family at the Woodlands flat on Feb 23 and was told that the unit was being rented to the woman from March 7.

The owner assured him that he could move in as agreed on March 20.

He later went to the flat again, just to be sure, but was told that the woman had found another tenant. ‘I was offered another flat in Ang Mo Kio, which I rejected,’ said Mr Jones, who then asked for a full refund from the woman.

However, he was told he would get only $4,200, or four months’ rent, as $1,050 was being forfeited because he ‘backed out’ of the agreement, a contention he disputed.

When contacted by The Sunday Times, the woman said: ‘The owner did not want to rent to him because he was a nuisance who harassed them even before he was allowed to move in.’

She said she was acting on behalf of the owner, and produced a written agreement that was signed by the owner.

To date, she said, she has refunded Mr Jones $1,889 and added she would repay him $4,200 eventually.

However, Mr Jones wants all his money back. ‘I paid $5,250, never got the house, and now she wants to return me $1,050 less?’ he said.

He made a police report on March 5 and furthered his case at the Small Claims Tribunal on March 25, where he was granted a money order to collect the full amount from her. However, he has yet to get the money as she has remained uncontactable.

Like Mr Jones, Mr Ramdeehul paid a deposit in December last year to the same woman after signing a tenancy agreement for a two-room flat in Ang Mo Kio. He said she even provided a set of keys.

But he claimed she later told him the owner no longer wanted to rent out the flat and offered to find him a similar unit. When he refused, she returned only $550 of his $3,200 deposit, he said.

He made two police reports after he used the keys she had given him. ‘When I opened the door, I saw a family who told me that she never gave them my deposit like she had promised,’ he said.
He, too, filed a complaint at the Small Claims Tribunal and was issued a money order to collect the full amount but, like Mr Jones, has been unable to contact her since.

A check by The Sunday Times found an advisory on the Chinese Embassy’s website which said that since many cases of rental disputes involve the sublease of property estates handled by that woman, ‘the embassy would like tenants to stay alert when working with her’.

The Sunday Times spoke to other foreigners here who found themselves involved in complicated rental disputes or were allegedly cheated of money.

Mrs Nadya Begum, 37, and her engineer husband from Manchester, England, said they have been cheated not once but thrice in their seven years here.

‘The first time, we were ignorant and did not ask for the agent’s personal details. We ended up paying a deposit for a flat which had already been ‘rented’ out to four other couples, also foreigners.

‘The second time, the agent cut off his phone line after he collected our deposit. The last time, in November 2008, we were smart enough to get the details of the agent and all the paperwork, but the landlord absconded with the money and is still uncontactable.’

ERA Reality associate director Eugene Lim said: ‘Some unethical agents prey on the ignorance of foreigners, especially those who cannot speak English or Chinese and face a language barrier.’

South Korean housewife and study mama Kim Ae Ran, 46, said she was cheated of a $6,000 housing deposit by a real estate agent who claimed to be working for PropNex agency.

When she decided on Dec 9 last year to terminate her lease early and return to South Korea because her husband’s business in Seoul was ailing, she gave two months’ notice via e-mail to her landlord through her agent.

The landlord replied, also via e-mail, that he would refund her the full deposit of $6,000 with the ‘expiry or lawful termination’ of her lease.

But it has been 11/2 months since she and her two children moved out. They are now staying with a friend and she has not received any of the promised money.

When contacted by The Sunday Times, the agent said that Mrs Kim had ‘unlawfully terminated’ her lease and was not entitled to her deposit. He added that he was ‘only an agent, not responsible for the sum’, and that the landlord was away in China and uncontactable.

When PropNex was contacted, it investigated and found that the agent had already left the company when he signed the tenancy agreement with Mrs Kim.
It also found that the tenancy agreement he drew up stated that commission would be paid to an agent of ‘PropNex Reality’, rather than ‘PropNex Realty’.

PropNex has since lodged a police report against the man.

Meanwhile, industry players say the recent announcement in Parliament to review and regulate agents could not have come sooner.

Mr Koh of Dennis Wee Group said: ‘At the moment, only about one-third of real estate agents here are CEHA-certified.’

CEHA is the Common Examination for House Agents started in 1996 to raise the standards of real estate agents here.

He added: ‘The industry badly needs both regulation and proper training, as well as penalties for rogue or scamming agents – it should be a two-pronged approach.’

Source: Straits Times, 5 April 2009

For the Wild Geese families who are staying on here, cost-cutting is the order of the day.

Like many others, Madam An Li Ae, 41, has relocated to new quarters. She moved out of a three-bedroom condominium in Serangoon last October and into a three-room HDB flat in the area. She and her two sons, aged 12 and 15, share the flat with another kirogi family.

Like most kirogi mums, she has been getting $4,000 to $5,000 a month from her schoolteacher husband in South Korea for the past five years. But she will not get as much in a few months’ time.
‘After the won’s value dropped so much, I cannot afford to fork out $3,000 a month just for condominium rental,’ she said.

Associate Professor Kang Yoonhee, a sociologist at the National University of Singapore who does research on Korean migrant families, notes that many kirogi families have downgraded to HDB flats in cheaper areas.

Some provide ‘homestays’ for unaccompanied Korean students here to supplement their income.
Gone are expensive tuition or enrichment classes. Five out of seven kirogi mothers interviewed say they have cut it out entirely or switched to cheaper alternatives.

Mrs Natasha Park, 34, says she has stopped her two sons’ weekly tennis and piano lessons, which used to cost her $40 an hour.

She has also terminated the services of the boys’ English and Chinese private tutors, who charged $30 an hour, and enrolled them in group lessons at a tuition centre for half the price.

Indeed, some local tuition agencies here note that since the start of the recession, the number of Korean students has tripled.

Grocery shopping for many is now done in local supermarket chains like NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong.

‘The food does taste a little bit different, but I can save up to $300 a month by switching from more expensive supermarkets,’ said Mrs H.K. Moon, 39, who is here with two sons and a daughter.

Five out of six Korean supermarkets interviewed confirm that fewer Korean customers are coming in and they have seen a drop in business of at least 10 per cent.

Finally, cherished trips back home to South Korea and visits from fathers have been reduced or put on hold.

Said Mrs M.K. Lee, 36: ‘My husband has stopped visiting since September last year, and we now talk on the phone only once every three days. We communicate mostly by e-mail. My sons miss their father a lot, but there is nothing we can do.’

For the Wild Geese families who are staying on here, cost-cutting is the order of the day.

Like many others, Madam An Li Ae, 41, has relocated to new quarters. She moved out of a three-bedroom condominium in Serangoon last October and into a three-room HDB flat in the area. She and her two sons, aged 12 and 15, share the flat with another kirogi family.

Like most kirogi mums, she has been getting $4,000 to $5,000 a month from her schoolteacher husband in South Korea for the past five years. But she will not get as much in a few months’ time.
‘After the won’s value dropped so much, I cannot afford to fork out $3,000 a month just for condominium rental,’ she said.

Associate Professor Kang Yoonhee, a sociologist at the National University of Singapore who does research on Korean migrant families, notes that many kirogi families have downgraded to HDB flats in cheaper areas.

Some provide ‘homestays’ for unaccompanied Korean students here to supplement their income.
Gone are expensive tuition or enrichment classes. Five out of seven kirogi mothers interviewed say they have cut it out entirely or switched to cheaper alternatives.

Mrs Natasha Park, 34, says she has stopped her two sons’ weekly tennis and piano lessons, which used to cost her $40 an hour.

She has also terminated the services of the boys’ English and Chinese private tutors, who charged $30 an hour, and enrolled them in group lessons at a tuition centre for half the price.

Indeed, some local tuition agencies here note that since the start of the recession, the number of Korean students has tripled.

Grocery shopping for many is now done in local supermarket chains like NTUC FairPrice and Sheng Siong.

‘The food does taste a little bit different, but I can save up to $300 a month by switching from more expensive supermarkets,’ said Mrs H.K. Moon, 39, who is here with two sons and a daughter.

Five out of six Korean supermarkets interviewed confirm that fewer Korean customers are coming in and they have seen a drop in business of at least 10 per cent.

Finally, cherished trips back home to South Korea and visits from fathers have been reduced or put on hold.

Said Mrs M.K. Lee, 36: ‘My husband has stopped visiting since September last year, and we now talk on the phone only once every three days. We communicate mostly by e-mail. My sons miss their father a lot, but there is nothing we can do.’

Source: Straits Times, 15 Mar 2009

SINGAPORE is still the best place for Asian expatriates to live in, a global human resources consultancy said yesterday.

Edging out Sydney and Kobe, which were ranked second and third, Singapore defended its top spot for a 10th year in ECA International’s latest annual survey.

‘Good infrastructure and healthcare facilities, low crime and health risks and decent air quality’ are why Singapore topped the quality-of-life charts for Asian assignees, ECA’s regional director for Asia, Lee Quane, said.

Poor air quality is a key reason why Hong Kong, despite rising up the charts with improved facilities for visitors, came in 11th, below other Asian cities such as Yokohama and Tokyo.

ECA’s Location Ratings Survey is based on a poll of 1,800 expatriate employees of 80 different nationalities, as well as its own evaluation of data from government and independent sources, such as crime rates and pollution levels.

More than 400 locations worldwide are rated on factors including climate, air quality, health services, housing and utilities, social network and leisure facilities, infrastructure, personal safety and political tension.

These rankings are then used by HR professionals as a gauge of how much they should pay expatriate employees in ‘hardship’ allowances – compensation for adjusting to life in a new location. About 1,500 international clients purchase ECA’s survey each year.

For Singapore, ECA recommends that companies pay a location allowance of between zero and 10 per cent of an expatriate’s base salary, depending on where they relocate to Singapore from, Mr Quane said.

In its study, Singapore was also ranked the most liveable Asian location for European expatriates, out of 49 Asian locations rated. Worldwide, Copenhagen offered the best quality of life to Europeans, followed by Antwerp and Brussels. Worldwide, Singapore was ranked 54th.

Source: Business Times, 12 Mar 2009

Expat schools in S’pore losing students while local ones are growing

TWO pictures have emerged among international schools here: The demand for places in schools run for expatriates’ children – particularly the smaller ones – is shrinking, while those run by the local brand-name schools have become ever more popular.

The reasons for these trends differ.

Some schools for expatriates’ children are losing their enrolments because their students’ parents have lost their jobs in the downturn here, although premier ones such as the Singapore American School (SAS) are still mostly unaffected.

Of the 27 international schools here, which do not include kindergartens and supplementary schools, 10 say up to 20 per cent of their students have pulled out, leaving even in mid-term; 14 others say their numbers are stable, but are expecting more withdrawals at semester’s end around June.

But ‘local international’ schools like ACS International and Hwa Chong International, which follow the national bilingual policy, have each grown their enrolments five to six times since 2005.
Both have added or will add facilities. ACS International, for instance, has new classrooms and soon, a sports complex, a medical centre and more classrooms.

Even the newer SJI International has expanded – it opened its primary school last year and an extension last December.

Meanwhile, the Nanyang family of schools plans to open a co-ed international school mainly for foreigners by next year, starting with primary-level classes on its kindergarten’s Bukit Timah site.
International arms run by the brand-name schools here are now hot among local and foreign parents seeking for their children, among other things, smaller classes of about 25 students each.

Between 50 per cent and 70 per cent of the students at these schools are Singaporean, their
parents unfazed by the higher fees – about $20,000 a student each year.

For marketing supervisor Carol Wong, 55, choosing ACS International for her son Joshua paid off.
Though he did well enough after Primary Six to get into St Andrew’s Secondary School, she put him in ACS International, attracted by its smaller classes and departure from the mainstream curriculum.

Last year, this ‘average pupil in primary school’ topped the school with eight As in the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (iGCSE).

Ms Wong said he ‘really soared in ACS’. With the smaller classes, he got more attention from his teachers. Tuition became unnecessary.

The Government gave the brand-name schools here the go-ahead to open international arms in 2005 to attract 150,000 international students here by 2012, and to give local students more choices in secondary school education.

Smaller classes aside, parents like the multi-cultural experience and the globally-recognised qualifications they offer, like the iGCSE, similar to the O levels at Secondary 4; and the International Baccalaureate diploma two years later.

Among the expatriate schools hardest hit by falling enrolments is the Global Indian International School Singapore, which went from over 600 students last year to about 500 now.

Avondale Grammar School, set up in 2007, has lost 15 to 20 of its 150 or so mostly-Australian students.

The Japanese School and the Singapore and Australian International schools are less badly hit, but expect a slowdown.

However, the top-choice SAS, Tanglin Trust and the United World College of South East Asia are still getting applications and still have waiting lists.

Dr Glenn Odland, head of the Canadian International School, said: ‘We are getting a lot of last-minute arrivals because some big companies are moving operations to Singapore.’

Mixed results
Smaller enrolments: 10 of the 27 international schools have lost up to 20 per cent of their students. They include the Global Indian International School Singapore and Avondale Grammar.
Less badly hit: Japanese School and Australian International school.

Not affected: Singapore American School, Tanglin Trust and the United World College of South East Asia still have waiting lists.

Expanding: ACS International, Hwa Chong International, SJI International and the Nanyang family of schools.

Source: Straits Times, 9 Mar 2009

THE Singapore American School is selling guaranteed places in its classes for up to $300,000 – the highest among international schools here.

The school is targeting families or companies interested in securing places for their employees’ children.

It has set aside 75 places – less than 10 per cent of the anticipated student enrolment – for the new school term, which begins in August.

Individuals who want to book a place have to pay $200,000, while companies have to fork out $300,000.

The money is a pure donation to the school: It cannot be used to offset school fees, which cost between $10,300 and $24,400 annually, or any other charges.

The American School is the fourth to offer places for sale, after the United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), Tanglin Trust School and the Canadian International School.

Several international schools contacted said the economic downturn has not had an effect on enrolment.

All say they have a long waiting list, despite raising enrolment in recent years.

Ms Beth Gribbon, the American School’s director of communications, said yesterday that the wait-list has remained ‘fairly consistent’ over the last few months.

She did not give figures, but said there is higher demand for upper-grade classes, meant for children aged 11 to 18.

Like many other international schools, the American School has seen a spike in demand for places in the last five years, as Singapore’s expatriate population has grown.

It expanded its campus in 2004, adding room for 900 more students.

But the extra places were snapped up, and it was filled to the brim within two years.

It now has 3,800 students aged between three and 18.

To cope with rising demand, other international schools here have also upped enrolment or announced ambitious expansion plans.

The Australian International School, for example, takes in 2,213 students now, up from 1,800 in June last year.

UWCSEA will open a Tampines campus in August 2010 with a target enrolment of 2,500 in five years. Its Dover campus, with 2,950 students, will continue to run.

The Australian International School also announced plans to build a new senior wing last October, barely three months after opening an extension for its preschoolers.

The other international schools which offer guaranteed places charge between $85,000 and $225,000.

Tanglin Trust has a two-tiered pricing policy: $165,000 for a guaranteed place, or $85,000 to get to the top of the wait-list.

The Canadian International School charges companies $150,000 for the first child and $130,000 for the second. The scheme is open to individuals as well, at $100,000 a child.

At UWCSEA, prices have gone up and single places now sell for $225,000. There is also a $350,000 price tag for a bundle – one place at its Dover Campus and one at the East Campus, which is temporarily located in Ang Mo Kio.

Places at international schools here became an issue of national concern when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned the squeeze on places as a ‘constraint’, and said the Government had stepped in to ease the shortage by helping these schools to expand.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore created a Select Committee on International Schools to look into the issue of places at such institutions for children of employees of its member companies.

According to a survey it conducted last year of 142 members and 58 companies, 93 per cent of respondents felt that access to an international school of choice was an important criterion for expatriates with school-age children to take up an assignment in Singapore.

A large majority – 79 per cent – of respondents felt their expatriate employees would not be willing to enrol their children in local schools if there are no places in an international schools.

Source: Straits Times – 10 Feb 2009

THE Singapore American School is selling guaranteed places in its classes for up to $300,000 – the highest among international schools here.

The school is targeting families or companies interested in securing places for their employees’ children.

It has set aside 75 places – less than 10 per cent of the anticipated student enrolment – for the new school term, which begins in August.

Individuals who want to book a place have to pay $200,000, while companies have to fork out $300,000.

The money is a pure donation to the school: It cannot be used to offset school fees, which cost between $10,300 and $24,400 annually, or any other charges.

The American School is the fourth to offer places for sale, after the United World College of South East Asia (UWCSEA), Tanglin Trust School and the Canadian International School.

Several international schools contacted said the economic downturn has not had an effect on enrolment.

All say they have a long waiting list, despite raising enrolment in recent years.

Ms Beth Gribbon, the American School’s director of communications, said yesterday that the wait-list has remained ‘fairly consistent’ over the last few months.

She did not give figures, but said there is higher demand for upper-grade classes, meant for children aged 11 to 18.

Like many other international schools, the American School has seen a spike in demand for places in the last five years, as Singapore’s expatriate population has grown.

It expanded its campus in 2004, adding room for 900 more students.

But the extra places were snapped up, and it was filled to the brim within two years.

It now has 3,800 students aged between three and 18.

To cope with rising demand, other international schools here have also upped enrolment or announced ambitious expansion plans.

The Australian International School, for example, takes in 2,213 students now, up from 1,800 in June last year.

UWCSEA will open a Tampines campus in August 2010 with a target enrolment of 2,500 in five years. Its Dover campus, with 2,950 students, will continue to run.

The Australian International School also announced plans to build a new senior wing last October, barely three months after opening an extension for its preschoolers.

The other international schools which offer guaranteed places charge between $85,000 and $225,000.

Tanglin Trust has a two-tiered pricing policy: $165,000 for a guaranteed place, or $85,000 to get to the top of the wait-list.

The Canadian International School charges companies $150,000 for the first child and $130,000 for the second. The scheme is open to individuals as well, at $100,000 a child.

At UWCSEA, prices have gone up and single places now sell for $225,000. There is also a $350,000 price tag for a bundle – one place at its Dover Campus and one at the East Campus, which is temporarily located in Ang Mo Kio.

Places at international schools here became an issue of national concern when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong mentioned the squeeze on places as a ‘constraint’, and said the Government had stepped in to ease the shortage by helping these schools to expand.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Singapore created a Select Committee on International Schools to look into the issue of places at such institutions for children of employees of its member companies.

According to a survey it conducted last year of 142 members and 58 companies, 93 per cent of respondents felt that access to an international school of choice was an important criterion for expatriates with school-age children to take up an assignment in Singapore.

A large majority – 79 per cent – of respondents felt their expatriate employees would not be willing to enrol their children in local schools if there are no places in an international schools.

Source: Straits Times – 10 Feb 2009

STORES serving the Japanese market in Liang Court are bemoaning a big drop in sales, with several saying they will give up their leases if the poor business persists.

The dip was bad enough for the mall’s landlord, AsiaMalls, to stage a $40 million revamp last year to move away from its roots as a shopping centre catering mainly to Japanese expatriates and appeal to a wider group.

It included reorganising the mall’s layout and increasing visibility for shop fronts. Tenants such as Taiwanese restaurant Shin Yeh and furniture shop Living Works were introduced.

It was a necessary move.

According to the Japanese Association, many of its members have left recently, and more are set to go next month – the month Japanese firms traditionally end their contracts.

The association’s secretary-general, Mr Kazuo Sugino, said he ‘expects that many more expats will be asked to return home after March due to the economic downturn’.

There were 25,969 Japanese expats in Singapore in 2007, the latest year for which figures are available. This was a slight drop from the 26,370 in 2006.

Japanese housewife I. Hiroko, 42, knows of 10 Japanese families which will be leaving next month and wonders when it will be her turn to leave.

All this has left some Liang Court stores, which sell everything from Chinese tea to bookmarks, reeling.

In the past two months, Liu Xiang Tea Craft has lost 25 per cent of its regular clientele, mainly tea-appreciation students, along with half of its walk-in customers. Almost all the customers are wives of Japanese workers posted here.

It looks set to get even worse: 12 more students will be packing their teacups to leave next month.
‘Companies usually give them two months’ notice; then they are gone, and so is my customer base,’ said Mr Lee Chee Keong, the 56-year-old owner of the store.

Some tenants are nearly at the end of their tether.

A Big John outlet on the first floor, which sells a popular Japanese brand of jeans, has been in the red since it opened in June last year. Its director, Mr Vincent Chua, 54, will not be renewing his lease, which has a year and three months to go.

‘There are no customers, what can we do? My staff just sit around and look at walls. The Japanese just go to the supermarket and go home,’ he said.

In contrast, shops selling goods that appeal to a wider market are not complaining.

A spokesman for Subway food outlet said business was ‘better than anticipated’ and he had no problems covering costs. A spokesman for electronics retailer Audiohouse said business had been ‘quite swift’ during the soft opening last August and grand opening in December.

The revamp resulted in shopper traffic hitting 700,000 in December, up 148 per cent from the previous year, said Ms Stephnie Ho, general manager of AsiaMall Management. Last month,
shopper traffic was about 590,000.

The idea, she said, was to extend the mall’s repertoire to ‘broaden its appeal’.

She added that over the past seven months, the mall has purchased tenants’ vouchers and products worth $92,000.

‘This directly goes back to the tenants as sales chalked up. In our promotions for 2009, we will continue with this strategy to boost sales,’ she said.

Liang Court started life in 1983, catering mainly to the Japanese market.

For a while, boosted by the anchor tenant Daimaru, a popular Japanese department store, it was a shining light in Singapore’s retail industry, despite being quite a way off the Orchard Road shopping belt.

It is perhaps best remembered for its extravagant Christmas decorations, which electrified crowds and earned accolades from the then Singapore Tourist Promotion Board.

But Liang Court’s history provides little comfort for Perpetua Fashion.

Two months ago, the women’s store was selling about 10 dresses a week to Japanese customers.

‘Now we would be lucky if we sell even a third of that,’ said shop assistant Marienel Galano, 23. ‘If there is increased traffic from the revamp, we are not seeing it.’

Source: Straits Times – 10 Feb 2009