Woman says she never saw a lease agreement or landlord and when she wanted to move out he talked her out of it. Truth revealed after boyfriend dumps her and she finds bank letter to him about mortgage. — SCMP
A woman in Taiwan who thought she was splitting her rent for 10 years with her boyfriend before he ended the relationship has discovered that he was the homeowner and said she was unwittingly used to repay his entire mortgage.
In a post on mainland social media the woman revealed that the couple had been in a relationship for 20 years and rented a flat together after her boyfriend insisted it was more cost-effective than buying property.
The woman said her boyfriend then seemed to instantly find their current flat with three bedrooms and one bathroom with a monthly rent of NT$28,000 (US$900), which they split evenly despite never seeing a lease agreement or any documentation for the rental amount.
She said that she only saw the person she was led to believe was the homeowner once. Whenever something in the flat needed fixing it was done by a tradesperson.
“When I contacted the supposed owner he told me that because he owns multiple properties, he hires external contractors to handle repairs. This is quite common in the rental industry, so I didn’t suspect anything,” she said.
Her boyfriend also reassured her by saying: “Our homeowner really values tenant privacy, and he lives far away, so he won’t come unless it’s necessary.”
The rent payment process was also suspicious in retrospect.
Her boyfriend would give the “owner” the money after she paid her share to him. He also claimed that the owner’s address was close to his work, so it was easier for him to deal with him directly and claimed he was worried that the owner might try and date her if she met him.
In the 12th year of their relationship, the woman started a new job that required a much longer commute and proposed moving closer to her work. However, her boyfriend immediately rejected the idea.
“He kept begging me, promising to figure out solutions for commuting long distances. He even offered to drive me to and from work and take care of all household responsibilities,” she said in her post.
The woman added that after 20 years, she thought they were both anticipating getting married. She was wrong.
However, to her surprise, the man suddenly ended their relationship, accused her of being lazy and petty, said they had no future, and told her to move out.
At the same time, a housing loan payment letter addressed to her boyfriend suspiciously arrived at the flat in the mail, and the penny finally dropped that her boyfriend was actually the owner of the flat they had been living in for 10 years.
“It seemed like someone deliberately forwarded the letter. The envelope clearly showed signs of being opened before,” she said.
The monthly mortgage payment was the same amount as her “share” of the rent.
“So I was just paying off his mortgage loan, only to be dumped afterwards,” she added.
Her story has quickly attracted sympathy from online observers, many of whom also offered advice on how she could exercise her legal rights to the property.
“So your boyfriend only paid the down payment and then let you pay the 20-year loan for him? If you gave your rent through bank transfers, there might still be a chance to get the money back. But if you gave him cash, I’m sorry to say that you may have to accept the loss,” said one person.
Another person added: “Your boyfriend might have committed fraud. Gather evidence and consult a lawyer. Don’t confront your boyfriend yet, it might alert him!” – South China Morning Post
