When a tenant moves out and leaves things behind

Their things are still theirs

When a tenancy ends, the flat comes back to you, but what the tenant left in it doesn’t automatically come with it. A tenant who returns for a laptop, a set of documents or a piece of furniture a week later, and finds it thrown out, has a grievance you’d rather not have to answer.

That doesn’t mean you have to store a stranger’s broken chairs forever. It means clearing after a short, written, fair process, rather than straight away.

There’s no Singapore law or official guidance written specifically for belongings a tenant leaves behind. What governs it is your tenancy agreement and, where that says nothing, acting reasonably and being able to show that you did.

Check the tenancy agreement

Many tenancy agreements say what happens to items left in the property at the end of the lease, and whether the cost of removing them can come out of the deposit. If yours does, that clause is the process.

The Council for Estate Agencies’ template tenancy agreement for private homes is one example. Its end-of-tenancy checklist has the tenant remove their belongings, and gives the landlord the right to remove or dispose of anything left behind. It only applies if your agreement used it: CEA publishes the template as a guide, and nobody has to use it.

If your agreement is silent, the steps below are a sensible way to act fairly and leave a record.

Contact the tenant in writing

Send a message to every contact you have for the tenant, including email and WhatsApp, and to their agent if they had one. Say what was left, attach photos, and give a clear date by which they need to collect it or tell you they don’t want it. Say what will happen after that date.

Keep it short and neutral. The aim isn’t to win an argument; it’s to show later that the tenant knew and had a fair chance.

Store what has value

Clear obvious rubbish straight away: food, broken items, packaging. For anything with value, such as electronics, documents, jewellery or good furniture, keep it safe until the deadline passes. Documents like passports, NRICs, bank letters and certificates deserve special care. Keep them aside and make a specific effort to return them.

The deposit and the cost of clearing

Deduct the cost of clearing from the deposit only if the tenancy agreement allows deductions of that kind, and only for what you actually spent. Keep the photos, your messages to the tenant, and the clearing invoice, so you can show the charge was reasonable.

If the tenant disputes it, the Small Claims Tribunals hear disputes over tenancies of residential premises of up to two years, for claims up to S$20,000, or S$30,000 if both sides agree in writing. For disputes that don’t involve a property agent, CEA points landlords and tenants to mediation at a Community Mediation Centre, or to the tribunals.

Getting the flat ready again

Once the deadline has passed and anything of value has been returned or dealt with, clear the rest, then clean and fix what needs fixing before the next tenant moves in. Our sister brand HomeToClean arranges move-out cleaning if you’d rather not do it yourself.

Take dated photos of the empty, clean flat before the new tenancy starts. They’re the starting point for the next inventory, and the answer to the next dispute.