My 2nd Rented Home In SG Stories

After my landlord decided to sell the house, we had no choice but to find a new place. Fortunately, we found a flyer nearby and decided to view the house. It had two common bedrooms and one utility room, and the rent was SGD 2000/month. Miss Tricia agreed to be the main tenant, which I had no objections to, and she asked me to help create a weekly chore schedule for the roommates, a suggestion I supported since everyone should contribute to keeping the house clean.

Irene and Rachael, two of our roommates, decided not to renew the lease and return to their home country. Their friends, Anna and Michelle, took their place, so the new house consisted of Tricia, Michelle, Anna, Jennifer, Kathy, and myself. Michelle was a student, and Anna worked for a branded cosmetic company.

Tricia gave me the choice to either take the utility room or share a bedroom with her. After some thought, I opted for the utility room to have my own space. I paid SGD 420/month, excluding utilities, with a slight discount because the room lacked air conditioning. The downside of living in the utility room was the constant cooking smell, and it was near the rubbish chute. One quirky thing I remember is how my housemates would pile up garbage in the dustbin near the chute but never throw it out – it was like a game of Jenga.

A memorable incident involved Anna during Chinese New Year. We all went home, and she was the last to leave. We reminded her to check and turn off the lights, but she accidentally turned off the fridge! Tricia, the first to return, was greeted by a terrible smell, and all the food in the fridge had to be thrown out.

Over time, some housemates moved out. Kathy and Michelle graduated, and new students, Lisa and Esther, moved in. Lisa, unfamiliar with Singapore, bought a lot of local spices and sauces but never used them. In fact, she left them scattered in the kitchen until Tricia stuffed them into a cabinet. They remained untouched until I moved out.

At one point, Lisa’s father brought her an electric stove from Vietnam, but her attempt to fry an egg led to smoke and panic. Instead of placing the hot pan in the sink, she put it on a plastic chair, which melted, forcing us to throw it away.

Tricia moved out after a year after deciding to get married, leaving Anna as the new main tenant. Miss Nina, who replaced Tricia, didn’t like Lisa and Esther for using the air conditioner constantly, worrying it would raise the electricity bill. Eventually, Esther graduated and moved out, and Lynda took her place. Again, all my housemates were Vietnamese, except for me.

Lynda worked in a lab and seemed capable, though she had some strange habits, like constantly scolding someone over the phone and shake her head smiling there but one day when I peep on her phone, she was not talking to anyone at all. She also likes to hanging wet clothes indoors without placing anything underneath to catch the dripping water, creating a safety hazard.

As the second-year contract was nearing its end, I felt dissatisfied with the house environment and started looking for a new place myself. Anna, wanting to move as well, asked me to let her join in the search, and we eventually found a cozy place near Braddell MRT. We loved it and agreed to rent it for SGD 2200/month for the entire unit.

Since our new place would only be available on April 15th, and our previous lease ended on March 31st, we needed to extend our stay at the current house until April 15th and find tenants to replace us. After discussing with Lynda, she agreed to take over as the main tenant since she wanted to continue living there. She also requested to move into the utility room after I moved out, so I decided to make the switch to make our move easier. I was staying in the first common bedroom with Anna. During my stay, I found two tenants to move into the second common bedroom starting April 1st.

However, Lisa was still occupying the room at the time. Initially, the new tenants agreed to let her stay temporarily, but they later changed their minds. As a result, I let Lisa stay in our room for 15 days under the condition that no food be eaten in the bedroom. I thought it would be cruel to make her sleep in the living room.

Our landlord allowed us to start moving into the new place around April 13th, so we moved our belongings with help from my friend, Gary, who was driving his company’s van. We only used the van to transport our larger furniture.

As for our smaller items and clothes, we made several trips back and forth with our luggage since the new place wasn’t too far from our current house.

So yes, that’s the story of my second home. The story of my third home might be even more interesting. I'll share my experience in the next post.

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The names and identifying details in this story have been changed to protect the privacy of individuals

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Do check out my 1st rent room story here:

Chapter 1: My 1st Rented Home in SG

Love to read real story?

Continue with story of my 3rd home

Chapter 3: My 3rd Rented Home in SG

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