r/singaporehappenings

Been staying in this rental for over 3 years now. Started off sharing a room with a Malaysian girl, $400 each – solid deal in this economy. It's a 4-room HDB in Bukit Batok: 2 common rooms for tenants, master for an elderly couple + helper (helper sleeps on floor in their room to care for the wife who had a stroke). Uncle runs the household, we pay rent directly to him – cash only, no contract.

No complaints initially. $400, things were chill. There was another pair of siblings renting the other room but uncle always complained about them until they eventually moved out.

Fast forward – my sister came to SG to study, so we reshuffled. I moved to the now-empty room with my sis, my old roommate got a new friend to share with her.

First year: fine.

Then my sister started staying home more often (she's a student, not working full-time, sometimes prefers doing homework at home). Uncle started nagging about aircon usage.

Then came the cooking drama. My old roommate and the other housemate were cooking meals using an electric kettle – uncle said nothing. My sister does the same thing because she's too lazy to go out sometimes? Suddenly it's a problem. And he only directs the complaints at ME. Imagine coming home after a full day of work just to get an earful.

Anyway – sister graduated and went home. Now I'm paying $850 for the room solo. (He added $50/room for electricity a while back, fine whatever.)
But here's the thing: I literally only come back to sleep and do laundry. And NOW he's complaining that I wash my blanket and bedsheets too often, saying it'll "spoil his washing machine." At this point – why even rent out rooms???

You want rental income but tenants can't use aircon too long, can't use the washing machine properly? Then just don't rent lah.

I'm so done. We're paying full rent in CASH every month (which is a hassle on its own – who carries that much cash around anymore?) and still kena nag for basic living.

So – is this normal in SG rentals? Or is this uncle just being unreasonable?