Apartment handover in Singapore

I blogged a few days ago about deconstructing my home here in Singapore.  On Friday, I officially handed the keys and the apartment back to the landlord.  Before I get to that...let me back up and explain the process here since it is a bit different...

The majority of apartments are individually and privately owned.  There aren't many apartment complexes like we have in the US where you just go into the leasing office and deal with them.  Instead, you have to have a leasing agent and you also have to deal with the landlord's leasing agent.  I honestly have not ever seen the value in any of it and think it is just a way to create jobs and for the agents to make money.  I lucked out in that I had a really great agent and that my landlord's agent was pretty good too.

When you sign your lease here, if you are an expat, there is actually an 'expat clause' that is included that says that after X amount of time you can break the lease without penalty provided you give X months notice.  So, I actually started the communication about handing over my apartment back in December...which may be why it seems like it has taken forever!

I was given instruction by my relocation company what I needed to do prior to my handover...

~remove all items...seems obvious but they were explicit in this instruction

~clean the apartment...this makes perfect sense

~ensure all lightbulbs were working...apparently they will deduct from your deposit if there are lightbulbs that are burnt out.  Seriously?  I asked around and people have been charged up to $150 for replacing them...what the hell?  This seems so silly since it takes about two seconds and only a few dollars to replace them.  I actually had to have someone come in to help me with this because I had an unfortunate incident whereby I pulled the entire light fixture from the ceiling in a frustrated moment but that is another story all together...

~clean the kitchen, oven, stovetop, and fridge...again, makes perfect sense but they pointed all of these items out separately.  This was a very easy step for me since I used my kitchen so little...in fact, my oven has never been used.

~have the curtains dry-cleaned...this one annoyed me a little bit...the curtains to me are a fixture that are owned by the landlord so I feel like they should be the ones to clean them...but, I didn't want to argue with them so had them cleaned.  Thankfully, the dry cleaners here do this all of the time so the charge for the cleaning included the cost for them to come and take them down and also put them back up.

~turn off all utilities...again, not a huge deal but since I am leaving the country and officially closing all accounts I had to go to each place in person to sign off on the paperwork.

The list doesn't look that long and like it is that big of a deal to manage but having to coordinate multiple people to come in and out of the apartment and then take back the cable box and go to the power company and allow the landlord's agent to come in and show the apartment for prospective renters...ugh!  I was over all of the coordinating and planning and being there a few weeks ago!

So, I had heard horror stories about what a landlord tries to charge you for (hello...$150 to replace a lightbulb) and that very few people are able to get their entire deposit refunded.  Some of the landlords even try to get the tenants to pay to have the apartments repainted...really???  Overall I left the apartment in good condition, in my opinion, but I was prepared for a big fight about how any damages the landlord's agent identified were just part of the normal wear and tear of being in the apartment for three years. 

As I mentioned above, the official handover was on Friday morning.  I went in seriously ready to defend my position and had a few arguments in my back pocket...things I had covered the expenses for that the landlord was supposed to instead of me.  Anyway, we all showed up...did a quick walk-through...and in about 15-20 minutes time had all of the paperwork signed and I was walking out the door.  No arguments...no defense needed...phew!  I am so very happy that it went as well as it did.

Soon somebody else will be living in what was my home for the past three years...it seems a little odd to me still that I can't go back there but as I mentioned in my post from a few days ago it ceased being my 'home' when all of my things were getting packed up and shipped back home.

Last view of my front door..