HDB 2nd Appointment

Starring: 'The Operation Manager' and 'His Woman'
 
The 2nd HDB appointment was held on 1st of April (PM).

During the appointment, we signed a few forms, received the house keys, and voila, the appointment was over! The whole process probably took less than 15 minutes. After which, we proceeded to the 2nd floor to get the utilities transferred to our names (also around 15 minutes).

In normal circumstance, you would pass your agent his/her cheque, but we decided not to. Mainly because of the following reasons:

1. When we inspected the flat 2 nights ago, the flat was not totally cleared out. There were still a lot of junk lying around. We wanted to ensure that these items were gone, else our agent should take responsibility by getting town council or disposal company.
2. The owner still owes us the letter box key.

Advice by operation manager:
Please note transaction is incomplete should any item remains outstanding. Thus, the buyer should ensure all items are in order prior to issuance of cheque to his/her agent.

Fortunately, we withheld the cheque as we did really face some complications.

When the operation manager went to inspect the house the night thereafter, he could not open the main door successfully. The previous owner had secured the main door 4 times, with a padlock, main lock, metal grille lock and a bicycle lock but the operation manager could only open 2 of these 4 locks.

He called the previous owner frantically but was unable to reach him. The previous owner had switched off his handphone while his agent feigned ignorance. It seemed that our agent was the only one who tried to help.

We are not sure if we would have received the same attention if we had paid her earlier. The rest of the night was emotionally for both the operation manager and his woman.

Prayer was answered the following afternoon when the previous owner called and agreed to assist.
Matter was resolved in the evening with a change of new locks.

Take-away:
At the end of the transaction (and before each party returns to his own way), please ensure you have the followings:
- The seller's contact
- Ensure house is empty
- Every single item, stipulated under the ownership clause

Bonus:
- Future Home address of the seller, through eaves-dropping