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An American man living in Singapore refused to pay rent for a semi-detached property he rented in Kembangan, yet sued its elderly owners when they attempted to re-enter the house.<\/p>\n
According to a judgement from Oct 5, the applications made by Anthony Thomas Price were dismissed by District Judge Chiah Kok Khun who said he had “devised a deliberate scheme” to rent the home without intending to pay rent.<\/p>\n
The tenancy agreement was made by Price using a Singapore-incorporated private company with paid-up capital of only $200, with himself and his family as directors.<\/p>\n
The company was also the applicant of the claim.<\/p>\n
Chiah argued that Price had a pattern of “using shell companies to rent landed properties in Singapore for his family to stay and not paying rent” and embroiling defendants in litigation “in a bid to extend his period of unlawful occupation” of the homes he rented.<\/p>\n
“In my view, the claimant\u2019s applications are filed in plain abuse of process of the court,” he added.<\/p>\n
The counterclaim the elderly homeowners in their 80s made against Price was also allowed.<\/p>\n
According to the judgement, a tenancy agreement was signed in April for two years, from May 1, 2026 to April 30, 2028, with rent of $7,500 to be paid on the first day of each month.<\/p>\n
If rent remained unpaid for seven days, an interest rate of 10 per cent per annum applied, calculated from the due date to the date of actual payment.<\/p>\n
Price had only paid rent for the first month.<\/p>\n
Thus, the district judge concluded that Price was in “clear breach of the tenancy agreement … in refusing to pay rent”.<\/p>\n
This also gave the defendants, the elderly homeowners, the “rights of re-entry” to take back their property.<\/p>\n
On top of this, Price breached further tenancy agreements when he paid only half the security deposit of $15,000 when he moved in and refused to pay the remainder due on June 1.<\/p>\n
Price and his family also refused to set up an account and pay for utilities, which they were obliged to in their tenancy agreement, and installed CCTV cameras without obtaining the landlords’ written consent, going against the tenancy agreement.<\/p>\n
[[nid:742716]]<\/p>\n
Price had attempted to justify his refusal to pay rent based on alleged defects to the property, involving “approximately 35 repair, rectification or practical occupation issues”.<\/p>\n
He claimed that it was “not a straightforward rent-only matter” and disputed the homeowners’ entitlement to “rely on [claimant\u2019s failure to pay rent and other sums] to take possession by self-help, particularly in the context of the unresolved repair, safety, tenantability and quiet enjoyment issues\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Chiah dismissed these, calling them “worthless words and a roundabout way” to say Price refused to pay rent.<\/p>\n
“If the claimant is serious about its assertions regarding the condition of the premises, it is for the claimant to pursue its assertions separately against the defendants,” he added.<\/p>\n
“It cannot use these assertions as an excuse not to pay rent.”<\/p>\n
The homeowners made an attempt “at peaceful re-entry” into the Kembangan home on June 29, but were resisted by Price and his family.<\/p>\n
However, Chiah concluded that, in view of the claimant’s refusal to pay rent, the tenancy agreements give the homeowners “a contractual right to re-enter the premises and terminate the lease”.<\/p>\n
He also allowed their counterclaim on basis of arrears of rent \u2014 $22,500 between June and August and an interest of $269.17\u2014 and the remaining $7,500 of the security deposit, as well as $813.74 for utilities.<\/p>\n
In addition, Chiah said: “The claimant is to reimburse the defendants in respect of any unexpired part of the tenancy, a proportionate part of the commission of $8,175 that was paid by the defendants to the estate agent.”<\/p>\n
He also allowed the defendants to claim double rent, calculated from Aug 15 until Price and his family hands over the vacant home.<\/p>\n
Chiah ordered a fixed cost of $15,000 plus disbursements of $2,031.98 to be paid by the claimant to the defendants as well.<\/p>\n
Price had used shell companies twice before to attempt to live in landed properties without paying rent.<\/p>\n
In 2019, he had used the same shell company that signed the tenancy agreement for the Kembangan property, to rent a landed property at Jalan Selamat.<\/p>\n
He also used a wholly-owned subsidiary of his shell company to enter a one-year tenancy agreement with the owner of a landed property at Burnfoot Terrace in 2024.<\/p>\n
In both cases, he only paid part of the security deposit and stopped paying rent after a few months, and the owners of both properties had taken him to court over it.<\/p>\n
Price and his family had lived in the Jalan Selamat property for at least five months, and at the Burnfoot Terrace home for nearly a year.<\/p>\n
While the case regarding the Jalan Selamat home was eventually settled, the proceedings for the Burnfoot Terrace property are still ongoing.<\/p>\n
[[nid:746971]]<\/p>\n
drimac@asiaone.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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