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Me and my flatmate are expats who stayed in a private condo. Last week, we moved out from the condo as the housing contract had ended. The landlord and agent carried out a final inspection with my flatmate’s presence. Three items which needed repair/replacement were identified. These items were then signed and acknowledged by both parties, the landlord and tenant, with the agent’s presence. However, after the agreement was signed/handover was over, landlord and agent claimed that a few more items were not working and require replacement and repair. We find this practice extremely unethical as these items were not identified problematic when my flatmate was presented during the final handover, and only added to the list after the handover/check our process has been completed. There is no way for us to find out if they were actually broken/ or broke by the landlord or other parties after the handover. When asked for explanation, the landlord was also extremely aggressive and asked us to go ahead with a legal complaint, and refused to justify why new items are still added after we have checked out/signed off the deducts during the handover, without our presence. He also refused to provide an itemised invoice and the cost involved in the so-called repairs/replacement. It looks like he is trying to take advantage of the fact that we are expats. He is going to withhold the deposit. Is it possible to raise a complaint to take back our deposit using formal channels? And can we also lodge a complaint against the landlord for adding new ‘defected items’ only after the handover process is completed without our presence/ adding things to the list of defected items, which has already been signed off during the handover ? Many thanks.

Yan