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[UPDATE on Feb. 28 at 5:54pm: The article has been updated with a second statement from Lock+Store regarding the source of the water.]
Those who have moved house in Singapore might be familiar with this dilemma: The need to manage both timelines of moving out of one's first home after locking down with a buyer, and moving in to the new home after renovation, cleaning and so on.
If the timelines don't sync up, one could be stranded with nowhere to stay, and with a home's worth of items with nowhere to go.
That's where self-storage options become appealing for many a home owner — one can stash less-essential items away in a storage unit to be retrieved when the new home is ready.
However, a woman's self-storage experience took a turn for the worse when an estimated S$16,000 of items ended up damaged by water in her storage unit at the Lock+Store facility in Ang Mo Kio.
While she is seeking recourse from Lock+Store, her prospects of success are uncertain, as the company's standard terms and conditions disclaim its liability, and place a limit on the compensation to be paid, at a maximum of S$2,000.
The woman, surnamed Ong, shared her experience online to seek advice, and in the hopes of warning other homeowners who had items in self-storage.
What happened
Speaking to Mothership, Ong said she sold her flat in 2022, and moved in to her parents' place while searching for her next home.
Given the space constraints from sharing a room with her two children, extra items had to be placed into storage.
Ong rented the storage unit in January 2022 for a year, and paid S$4,075.82.
When it came time to collect the items to her new home in December 2022, Ong was horrified to find that a number of those items had been badly damaged by water in the storage unit.
Luxury handbags, belts, wallets, and jewellery display boxes were among the damaged items, along with Ong's personal collection of 108 Archie comic books.
Photo via YT Ong on Facebook.
Photo via YT Ong on Facebook.
Photo via YT Ong on Facebook.
The cardboard boxes were so damp, they tore while being moved. Photo via YT Ong on Facebook.
Ong's daughter’s kindergarten graduation photo and certificate were also damaged. She contacted the school, but they do not have a replacement copy available. Photo via YT Ong on Facebook.
Ong recounted the experience in a Feb. 28 Facebook post, calling it a "terrible ordeal".
On top of the cost of the valuable items that were ruined by water, Ong also had to deal with the stress of managing other water-damaged items like mouldy clothing, as the moisture had gotten through the vacuum-sealed packets.
Ong even found mould on clothing kept in vacuum bags. Photo via YT Ong on Facebook.
Ong thus had to source for an industrial laundromat where the large amount of clothes could be cleaned.
She said:
"This ordeal has been extremely exhausting and horrifying, both mentally and physically. I also had to pay for a lot of unnecessary expenses that arose from the water leakage at the store.
Moving house is already a very tiring process. Having water leaking and destroying my items added to the stress exponentially."
Where did the water come from?
The damaged items were those kept at the far end of the storage unit.
Water stains on the wall of the storage unit. Photo via YT Ong on Facebook.
Ong suspects that the water damage was caused by condensation accumulating on the wall over time.
This is because the unit immediately behind hers is used by a chocolatier, which needs strong air-conditioning.
However, she has not been able to confirm this with the Lock+Store representative assigned to her case.
Why was the water not discovered earlier?
Ong says that although she went to the unit around once a month to retrieve certain items, she was unable to check on the items at the end of the unit, as they were blocked by furniture and other items.
She also did not notice the water, as her furniture and boxes blocked her view of the wall at the end of the unit.
The water situation was only discovered when she started moving items out to her new house.
"Looking at the extent of damages on my items, I assume it must have been from day one," she told Mothership.
Never intended to keep items in storage for so long
Ong did not expect that she would take the entire year to find a new home, but she said her timeline got delayed due to high property prices.
This resulted in the items being kept in the storage unit for almost a year, from January to December 2022.
Ong explained that she kept one bag with her for use, and stored the rest in order to make space for clothing, and items her children needed for school.
"There was simply no space in my parents' home," said Ong.
She also explained how she took care to try and protect the bags against humidity:
"I stuffed my bags with paper to help absorb moisture and places several packs of desiccants in each bag. It did not help.
I expected some surface mould due to humidity but did not expect such terrible damage."
"Even the dust bags holding the leather bags had disintegrated and tore," said Ong. Photo via YT Ong on Facebook.
Terms and conditions limit company's liability
Lock+Store's Head of Marketing and Customer Experience, Leona Lo, acknowledged the incident reported by Ong, and told Mothership that the company "looked into the incident as soon as we received her feedback."
"We are sorry for the frustration the tenant experienced," said Lo, stressing that "handbags should not be stored in non air-con units due to the risk of mould due to humidity."
"We would like to take this opportunity to remind current and prospective tenants not to store valuable items such as, but not restricted to, jewellery, artworks and luxury handbags in their storage units," she said, adding a link to the Lock+Store website for a list of items customers are asked not to store in the facility.
Lock+Store posted a similar statement on Facebook on Feb. 28:
Was the company at fault in any way?
Lo initially declined to comment on the source of the water,
"We cannot comment on the specifics of this case," said Lo, adding that tenants were "strongly recommended" to purchase additional insurance coverage on their own, on top of the "basic protection plan" offered by Lock+Store.
In a second statement, she said the water in the unit was due to “change in temperature or humidity conditions”, and not leakage.
Lock+Store did not respond to questions about whether water in the storage units was to be expected, or whether other storage units were affected too.
Responding to Lock+Store's statement via an update on her Facebook post, Ong said the company was "basically telling consumers to store items at your own risk even if there is something wrong in their storage units."
"They are not assuming any responsibility for this unfortunate incident. They are not acknowledging the water leak nor saying where the leak is coming from," she said.
Will Ong be compensated?
Lo also declined to comment on the compensation offer by Lock+Store, though Ong said the latest offer was S$2,500 (comprising a "S$2,000 goodwill offer and S$500 to restore some of [the] items").
"This offer is an insult to what I have lost and what I have gone through," said Ong.
Nonetheless, she acknowledged that the contract she signed was "iron clad" and protects the company from liability, though she also said the terms and conditions regarding compensation were not specifically highlighted to her when she signed the contract.
"This puts me at a disadvantage but I really hope justice can be done in this case," she said.
Ong plans to file a claim with the Small Claims Tribunal.
She concluded her post with a warning to other homeowners with items in self-storage:
"I don’t know how many will be as unfortunate as me. But do a check on your items if you have stored them in a facility for a long time."
Top image via YT Ong on Facebook