By Elysa Chen

SHE points the finger at her property agents, and she makes various excuses.

But she admits that she collected thousands of dollars as deposits after agreeing to sell her flat more than once, and never returned the money when she pulled out.

At least three parties are claiming that Madam Yanti Omar, 35, a divorced mother of three, took money from them.

But she claims property agents - a different one for each transaction - are to blame.

By offering her flat for sale three times since last February, she got the prospective home buyers into giving her a total of $10,000 in deposits.

Then, in each case, Madam Yanti failed to turn up for the first appointment at HDB.

But she said this was because she felt her agents did not come clean with her as well.

Madam Yanti, a factory worker, told The New Paper at her flat last Wednesday that the first two transactions fell through because she had signed the option to purchase without realising that the price agreed upon was below valuation.

With the last buyer, she claimed she had not even signed the option to purchase.

In the first transaction, made in February last year, Madam Yanti said she had agreed to sell her three-room Ang Mo Kio Avenue 10 flat for $155,000.

She owed HDB some $18,000 on the flat and was worried it would be repossessed.

She came to realise the flat's value only when the valuation report came out a few weeks later, she said.

'I realised later that my flat was worth $195,000. That's a lot of difference. How could I sell it at that low price?'

Settle debts

She said she did not return the deposit to the buyers as she had used the money to settle some of her debts.

What happened with the second buyer was similar. Her agent had clinched a deal to sell the flat for $195,000, but Madam Yanti found out that a second valuation report priced it at $205,000, some five months later.

So, she pulled out of the sale again, because she 'felt cheated'. It didn't matter to her that by then, she had twice signed binding agreements - the option to purchase - to sell her flat at those prices.

Madam Yanti said: 'This is money to be used for my future, it's for my children. I am not going to just sell it at such a low price.'

Her property agent for that sale, Mr Don Chow, 34, said she didn't turn up at HDB for the first appointment on 2 Jul last year.

Mr Chow said: 'When I called her, she said she was coming, but we waited until 1pm, and she never turned up. She also refused to answer our calls.'

Mr Chow also said that he lent Madam Yanti $4,300, through a bank transfer to her tenant's agents. The money was to be used to reimburse the tenants, who were occupying one room in the flat, to move out early.

'She was supposed to pay me back from the proceeds of the sale. But she did not turn up for the appointment again,' he said.

But Madam Yanti claimed she did not instruct him to compensate the tenants, as she had already wanted to pull out of the sale.

The prospective buyers in these two cases had paid her $5,000 and $3,000 each.

Both also filed caveats on the property, on 31 Mar and 6 Nov last year respectively.

In the most recent case, a young couple paid $2,000 to her property agent, Mr Zack Zailani, after deciding to buy the flat.

Again, Madam Yanti did not turn up for their appointment at HDB, on 10 Dec.

We are not naming the couple as they spoke on condition of anonymity.

The price was $215,000, with the couple agreeing to pay $5,000 above valuation.

Madam Yanti alleged her agent forged her signature on the Option to Purchase.

Mr Zailani denied this, and said the option to purchase was signed by both the buyer and seller within minutes of each other, though Madam Yanti had not signed the document in front of them.

For the couple, trouble started on 31 Oct, three days after exercising the option to buy the flat. They got a letter from HDB telling them about a prior caveat on it.

The couple have been trying to recover their $2,000 deposit. When they went to the flat, Madam Yanti claimed she was a victim, and that Mr Zailani had kept the money.

However, Mr Zailani, a Propnex agent, said he had accompanied Madam Yanti to settle debts using the money.

On 1 Mar, Madam Yanti told the couple that she would repay $200 to them every month for 10 months, starting 25 Mar.

But the couple are not satisfied. The wife, 25, who works in the retail industry, said: 'She's trying to get an interest-free loan.'

They have made police reports.

Propnex spokesman Adam Tan said that out of goodwill, the $2,000 will be returned to the buyer, with the agents paying $1,000, and the other $1,000 coming from their professional indemnity insurance.

He added that they have lodged a police report as well. A police spokesman confirmed that the reports were lodged, and that investigations are ongoing.