A local landlord has successfully retained a tenant’s full $6,000 security deposit after discovering a single, invisible molecule of dust behind a built-in wardrobe.

Property owner Tan Ah Kow defended the move, claiming the "catastrophic debris" required a full forensic team and a complete structural rebuild of the Toa Payoh flat.

"Eh, you see this spec or not? One millimetre only but my heart pain lah, the whole house now contaminated already," Mr Tan remarked while polishing his fourth Rolex.

The tenant was informed that the "emotional trauma" of seeing a minor scuff mark on a 40-year-old parquet floor is legally equivalent to arson.

"Liddat also can? I stay three years, pay on time, then now he say my breathing scratch the wall is it?" the tenant sobbed.

The Council for Estate Agencies has praised the landlord's entrepreneurial spirit, suggesting that returning any deposit is basically a form of financial treason.