| The Freshman |
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| Whether renting or buying, land search is indispensable |
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Fong Fong entered university this year and decided to rent a flat near campus in order to experience an independent life. An agent took her to inspect a number of units, one of which was situated in a quiet neighbourhood and was approximately 300 square feet in size. The rent was lower than that of similar units by about 20% and included rates and management fee.
While she was viewing the flat, the landlord said that he had to go away on business the next day and asked Fong Fong to decide on the spot whether to sign a lease with him and pay a two-month deposit plus a month's rental in advance. As it was evening, the agent said that he could not carry out a land search at the Land Registry. Fong Fong did not think there was much chance of the lease going wrong. So, without waiting for the agent to carry out a land search, she signed the lease and paid the deposit and rental advance requested by the landlord.
A week after Fong Fong had moved into the flat, she received a notice from the management office of the building saying that the management fee for the flat was several months in arrears. Moreover, when Fong Fong went home one day she found a threatening note posted on the door demanding the repayment of a debt. She tore it down but the same note was posted again the next day. She was so scared she did not know what to do.
Another week passed. She received a notice from the bailiff ordering her to move out within a prescribed time. Only then did she find out that the landlord had been a long time behind in his mortgage repayments to the bank, and a possession order had been obtained by the bank. Fong Fong immediately asked a friend to search the relevant records at the Land Registry and learned that not only were there a mortgage and a possession order but also other charging orders, including one for credit card payments and one for unpaid management fees.
Fong Fong could not find the landlord who should have absconded by then, and had no alternative but to comply with the bailiff's notice and move out.
If Fong Fong had waited for the requisite property information, including the encumbrances registered at the Land Registry, before deciding whether to rent the property, she could have avoided all the losses suffered and the hassles of being turned out.
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