We rented a room through an agent and signed a legal contract. However the "owner" turned out to be a relative of the real owner and was only residing in the same flat (hence bearing the same address on his IC). The house had in fact been sold to a new owner. As a result we was forced to evacuate the house shortly after we moved in.
A police report was made against the con owner who is still at large but I suspect that he is a bankrupt.
I have below questions:
1) If he were arrested but could not pay back our money, is there any way I can recover my losses from his relatives or by other means?
2) To what extent is the negligent agent (who failed to verify the ownership) responsible for our losses?
Our losses including the following:
1) deposit and 1 month rent
2) agent fees
3) signing up of a new internet plan (as there was none in the house and we were told to settle it ourselves)
4) 2 days emergency leaves to look for new houses
5) money wasted due to the incident eg housemoving cost
If 1) is recoverable, is it in full or can the agent prorate it by days and retain a portion?
3) If the agent refuses to compensate us, is his company responsible? Who can enforce a compensation from the agent?
Thank you very much for your help. We are quite clueless and anxious at the moment.
