SINGAPORE: A man devised a "deliberate scheme" to live rent-free in a landed home using a shell company, a judge found, ordering his company to return the property to its landlords and pay them unpaid rent and other sums.
Mr Anthony Thomas Price, an American, had used Noranth Ventures to rent a semi-detached house in Kembangan from May 1, 2026 to Apr 30, 2028. Mr Price and his family lived in the house.
While the landlords, a couple in their 80s, received the first month's rent, Noranth Ventures did not pay rent in the months that followed.
Because this breached the tenancy agreement, the landlords had the right to re-enter the home. However, Mr Price's company sued the landlords to block this.
The court dismissed the lawsuit, describing his applications as a "plain abuse of process of the court". It also allowed a counterclaim by the landlords to take back their home and recover the unpaid rent, among other things.
Noranth Ventures was ordered to pay the couple a total of S$17,031.98 (US$13,310) for legal costs and expenses incurred during the proceedings.
According to the judgment on Oct 7, Mr Price had a "pattern" of using shell companies to rent residential premises before refusing to pay rent.
He had used shell companies to rent two other landed properties between 2019 and 2024.
BREACH OF TENANCY AGREEMENT
Mr Price had used Noranth Ventures to rent the Kembangan home at S$7,500 a month.
Under the tenancy agreement, rent had to be paid on the first day of each month, tenants could not alter the home without written consent, there would be interest on any unpaid rent, and only Mr Price's wife and three other people would live in the home, among other conditions.
The tenancy agreement stated that if any stipulation was breached, the landlords were entitled to re-enter the home and seek damages.
However, only a month's rent and half the agreed S$15,000 security deposit was paid.
Mr Price also lived in the home with his family when he was in Singapore, utilities were left unpaid and closed-circuit television cameras were installed in the home without permission.
The judge found that Mr Price's communications with the landlords showed that Noranth Ventures had no intention of paying rent.
In one letter, Mr Price said that Noranth Ventures had "made practical proposals to regularise the rental position".
Mr Price had also stated in his affidavit that there were "unresolved repair, safety, tenantability and quiet enjoyment issues" and about 35 "repair, rectification or practical occupation issues" with the home.
District Judge Chiah Kok Khun described these as "worthless words and a roundabout way to say that Mr Price and the claimant (Noranth Ventures) have no intention of paying any rent".
"If at all, they reflect an attempt to raise spurious reasons not to pay rent," said Judge Chiah, adding that there was a "clear breach" of the tenancy agreement.
Judge Chiah also noted that 32 of the 35 issues highlighted by Mr Price had been rectified by Jun 8 this year "out of goodwill" and that several scheduled visits to rectify other issues were delayed by the tenants.
Mr Price also contended that the landlords had not given a valid notice to re-enter the home.
However, Judge Chiah rejected the argument, finding that no notice under Section 18(1) of the Conveyancing and Law of Property Act was required for re-entry arising from the non-payment of rent. He also found that notice had been given for the other breaches.
HISTORY OF AVOIDING RENT
The judge found a "pattern of using shell companies to rent residential premises", referring to two other court proceedings involving Mr Price.
According to the judgment, Mr Price had used a company called Bundleluxe to rent a landed semi-detached property in Burnfoot Terrace, Siglap. The tenancy was for one year from Jan 1, 2024 to Dec 31, 2024.
When the tenancy agreement was signed, Bundleluxe had already accumulated total losses of more than S$1.3 million from Dec 2021 to Nov 2023.
Bundleluxe paid rent for a few months before ceasing to do so.
Mr Price and his family then lived in the property rent-free for nearly 12 months, having extended their stay by about two-and-a-half months after the lease expired.
The landlord commenced legal action against Mr Price and Bundleluxe on Feb 10 last year. The case is still ongoing.
Mr Price had also used Noranth Ventures to rent another landed property at Jalan Selamat in Kembangan from Sept 2019 to Sept 2021, said the judge. Similarly, rent was only paid for one and a half months, but Mr Price and his family continued living at the home rent-free for at least five months.
The owner of the Jalan Selamat property took legal action, and the case was eventually settled.
Judge Chiah said these cases revealed Mr Price's "favoured approach" of renting landed properties for himself and his family.
"Price devised a deliberate scheme to rent the premises for him and his family with no intention to pay rental ... He embroiled the defendants in litigation in a bid to extend his period of unlawful occupation of the premises," said Judge Chiah.
"In this case, and in the two cases referred to above, Price is able to deploy various tools under substantive and procedural laws to frustrate the landlords' efforts to pursue their lawful rights against him, and to further his scheme to rent premises for him and his family with no intention to pay rental."
COUNTERCLAIM
Besides paying for legal costs and expenses, Mr Price's company will also have to pay for the owed rental and other sums after the judge approved the elderly couple's counterclaim.
The landlords sought S$22,500 in rent for June to August, plus interest, as well as S$7,500 of the security deposit and about S$800 for unpaid utility charges.
Noranth Ventures would also owe the landlords double rent from Aug 15, 2026, until it returns the property.
However, the rental arrears were likely to go unpaid because the tenants on record were shell companies with minimal paid-up share capital, the judge said. Noranth Ventures, the company Mr Price used to rent the home, had paid-up capital of S$200.
"In this regard, I agree that the pattern of using shell companies to rent residential premises as observed above is a matter of some concern for landlords in Singapore," said Judge Chiah.
Public business records show that Mr Price is the director of three live companies: Noranth Ventures, Seashuttle Group and Bundleluxe. They were incorporated in Jul 2007, Apr 2015 and Dec 2020 respectively.
Two of these firms, Noranth Ventures and Bundleluxe, are registered to a virtual office address. The third company, Seashuttle Group, is registered to an address currently occupied by a separate business.
All three companies do not have websites tied to them.
CNA has reached out to Mr Price through his social media account.