Dear Agony Uncle,

May we seek your advice on our dispute of the resale of a HDB flat?

My husband and I had signed an OTP of the resale of a HDB flat last Dec with the two witnessing agents representing both parties. It went smooth until our first appointment in Feb 2011. The sellers did not show up on the scheduled time. However in the afternoon of the same day, the sellers called us up and requested for continue of the first appointment. Thus the first appointment was reinstated. We and the sellers (a husband and a wife) have signed the contract at the witness of a HDB officer.

We are now at the final stage (pending at completion of the second appointment which should have taken place on 11th Apr) of the resale of HDB property. The resale was not able to complete because the sellers wanted to withdrawal. During the last inspection of the house, we found that one of the seller (the wife) was not the one who had presented in the first appointment. We were not able to tell the difference of the true seller and the one presented in the first appointment as we've met the wife once only when OTP was signed. I had indeed noticed the two different signatures of the wife sighted from the OTP document and the first appointment doc. I had pointed the suspicious signature to the HDB officer before I signed. The answer from HDB officer was that he had verified the person with her ID and it was common in Singapore to have two different signatures. With his assurance of the wife's identification, as well the concern of the loss/charges we might face if we were the party not willing to complete the resale, we eventually signed at the first appointment.

In the inspection before the second appointment, when we saw the real wife, we only realized we've got cheated by the sellers and the seller's agent. It has been three weeks after the last inspection for the second appointment. We have tried to negotiate with the sellers for compensation on the fees we've lost. Though the sell promised last Wed to pay us the compensation by today. But the sellers have not yet to pay a penny to us till now. We are near the rescheduled second appointment (5th May). May we have your advice on this issue? We appreciate your generous help in advance!


Best regards
XXXX