Tenants! Know your rights!

Alicia November 6, 2019June 11, 2020 0 Comments Tenancy Agreement, Tenant Guide, Tenant Rights

Tenants! Know your rights!

Ok first, let’s get this question out of our chests. Can your landlord kick you out? The straight answer is yes but there’s more to it. Under Section 7(2) of the Specific Relief Act 1950, a landlord cannot evict a tenant and/or recover possession of the premise unless he/she has a court order. The landlord also cannot change the lock or retake the property by force. So yeah, that is one example of your right as a tenant. You are protected!

There are also applicable laws that govern the tenancy in Malaysia which can be used to solve any tenancy related issues, namely:

Contracts Act 1950– tenancy agreement matters.
Civil Law Act 1956 – rental payment matters.
Distress Act 1951 – tenant eviction matters.
Specific Relief Act 1950– prohibition during evictions matters.
Common Law/Case Law– all tenancy matters.

Apart from that, you need to know these types of tenancies too, so that you know which category you belong to and what to do if something bad happens.

Fixed term tenancy – a tenancy agreement that has a definite beginning and ending date which also include the choice of renewing the tenancy agreement.
Periodic tenancy – a tenancy agreement that occurs within a determined period of time by the term of payment of rent which can range from weekly, monthly or even yearly.
Tenancy at will – a tenancy agreement which is agreed upon between the tenant and the owner without the presence of a written agreement between both. It can be terminated also by both at any time, with reasonable notice, of course.

Before agreeing to a tenancy agreement, there are some important things that you need to considered first.

How will the premises be used? The premises should only function as its intended in the tenancy agreement, in accordance with the existing laws and regulations.
How about sub tenancy? There are instances where tenants will sub rent the premise to others. It is ok if the landlord permits this activity but if it is done without consent, then there would be a breach in the terms and conditions of the tenancy agreement.
What’s included and what’s not? An inventory list is need and attached to the agreement early on. This is important for the potential tenant to check whether what they saw earlier during the viewing of the property is also provided when they start the tenancy.

What happens when you don’t pay the rent?

Let’s start thing of by saying you should always pay your rent. It is your responsibility to do so. But if there are situations that caused you not to be able to pay the amount agreed, the landlord can only evict you if there is a court order. As mentioned earlier under Section 7(2) of the Specific Relief Act 1950, the landlord has to engage a good lawyer to deal with evicting the tenant.

These are the legal procedures that a landlord needs to follow:

Provide a notice to remind the tenant to pay.
If the tenant fails to pay, the landlord with give a notice of termination to the tenant.
Through his solicitors, the landlord will then file a suit against the tenant, and seek for an order for vacant possession of the premises. This will take 3 months to obtain.
Once a judgement and the order for vacant possession is given, the landlord’s solicitors will have to file a writ of possession to ask the bailiff to re-take possession of the property and this will take another 3 months.

So, all in all, the process will take 7 months and cost RM10,000, if the tenant does not contest the procedure.

Such a longwinded and costly procedure on the landlord’s side but with SPEEDHOME, they will no longer worry about such issue as they will be protected thanks to the partnership with Allianz Malaysia

Tenants! You are protected but you also need to be a responsible tenant. When both parties contribute well within the agreement, no trouble with arise and both landlord and tenant will can a positive symbiotic relationship, both benefiting each other.