Malaysia property Q&A : How can I evict my tenant for not paying rental?

Q: Dear support team,

I wish for your advice on the right process to reclaim back my shop premises after my tenant has not paid the rental for three consecutive months.

Malaysia property Q&A : How can I evict my tenant for not paying rental?

Please advise.

Thanks.

A: Dear reader,
Chris Tan of Chur Associates.

Property lawyer Chris Tan from Chur Associates who has previously written on the subject shares his advice on the matter:

A tenancy agreement allows the landlord to evict the tenant and/or to recover possession of the demised premises upon the non-payment of rent, nonetheless the landlord is prohibited from evicting the tenant and/or to recover possession of the demised premises without a court order.

Section 7(2) of the Specific Relief Act states that “where a specific immovable property has been let under a tenancy, and that tenancy is determined or has come to an end, but the occupier continues to remain in occupation of the property or part thereof, the person entitled to the possession of the property shall not enforce his right to recover it against the occupier otherwise than by proceedings in the court.”

Hence, it is advisable for the landlord to:-

1. Issue an eviction notice in accordance to the tenancy agreement to the defaulting tenant giving the tenant certain grace period to handover vacant possession and pay all overdue rental;

2. If the tenant remains in occupation of the premise after the expiry of such notice, the landlord may claim double rental from the date of the expiry of the eviction notice until date of delivery of the vacant possession to landlord;

3. the landlord may file an eviction order against the tenant in court for the outstanding rental, double rental and recovery of the vacant possession; and

4. the eviction order could take three to six months at Sessions Court and the costs of the proceeding would varies from RM7,000-RM25,000 depending on whether the tenant is contesting the said summon.

Under Section 28(4) of the Civil Law Act: “Every tenant holding over after the determination of his tenancy shall be chargeable, at the option of his landlord, with double the amount of his rent until possession is given up by him or with double the value during the period of detention of the land or premises so detained, whether notice to that effect has been given or not”.

In most circumstances, where the tenant left the demised premises without informing the landlord, the landlord would proceed with self-help measures. If the landlord breaks the lock to take possession of the demised premises himself, the landlord might be slapped with a civil suit by the tenant claiming for an exorbitant amount for the landlord’s purported “self-help” however.

The current practice is for the landlord to lodge a police report and break the lock in the presence of a police officer and other independent witnesses in order to avoid further complications. A prudent landlord would take as many as possible photos of the interior of the demised premises to ensure that the tenant would not later claim loss of properties.

It is also advisable to place a notice on the front of the property informing the tenant if he wants to take back his assets in the house, he shall contact the landlord within 1 or 2 weeks’ time. Besides, you may also place a photocopy of the landlord’s police report together with the notice to indicate that the landlord had made the police report.

It is pertinent to note that shutting off the utilities is not advisable because it would put the landlord at a greater risks for being sued for damages for the electronic items etc, worse still if the tenant is bed-ridden and relying on the life-support machine.

source : http://www.starproperty.my/index.php/articles/investment/qa-how-can-i-evict-my-tenant-for-not-paying-the-rent/

8 comments

  1. Mew Kuan Kong

    I purchased a serviced apartment and was allotted 2 parking lots side by side as per sales and purchase agreement. During construction my parking lots were changed to 2 tandem lots (back to back) due to compliance with local authority as claimed by developer. After handing of vacant possession of the apartment I requested reallottment of parking lots due to impracticality . Developer denied my request. Can I have recourse in this and ask for compensation as I will have difficulty renting out my apartment.
    What course of action can I take?
    Would appreciate a reply. Thank you

    • Chat Property Malaysia
      Author

      Hi Mew Kuan:

      You may seek either one of the option below:

      1) Seek advice from you lawyer
      2) Seek advice from the Housing Tribunal officer

  2. SC Chan

    Dear support team,

    Refer to the case of a tenant still reluctant to return premise back to landlord even tenancy had expired.

    Questions :
    (1) Is it valid that a landlord put special terms in tenancy agreement before the tenancy start, to indicate that in such a case of whereby tenant fail to pay rent or reluctant to return premise after tenancy expire, landlord will reclaim back the premise after given a black & white notice letter to tenant within 1 or 2 weeks’ time to return premise. Will such special term be valid, with landlord & tenant sign below that term before a tenancy is started ? The purpose of this is to prevent landlord from being going through a quite long period of time (by lawsuit) before can reclaim back the premise even if landlord not plan claim back the debts owed.

    (2) Is it valid, in law or court, that any special terms which both party (landlord & tenant) are agreed being signed in tenancy agreement ?

    (3) In the case of a tenant had changed phone contact number or correspondance address without informing landlord, can the landlord put special terms in tenancy that “Tenant must update landlord on latest change of phone contact number & correspondance address immediately by letter, otherwise any notice or message send by landlord to the last updated contact number or correspondance adddress will deemed to be delivered” ?

    Would much appreciate a reply. Thank you in advanced.

    • Chat Property Malaysia
      Author

      Hi Chan:

      Try my best to reply your questions:

      (1) Applicable and if both tenant and landlord agreed.
      (2) Of course
      (3) Why not?

  3. Lulu

    Hi. My boss have 4 lot of lands. Then we rent it out to a company for the company to continue their business. The company business is related to fish. Therefore, there were ponds with fishes in the lands. However, the rental expired on 31/05/2017. Then on 29/06/2017 they email me asking to renew or new tenancy. We want to make new tenancy and they agreed to it. The finalised agreement is on 25/07/2017. The said agreement supposedly start 1/07/2017 to 30/06/2018 (1 year). Monthly rental is RM6,000.00 But they keep on delaying to execute the agreement saying that their director is overseas. Later on 5/09/2017 they email us said that their management decides to extend the agreement with us.

    So we already sent over a few notice of demand asking them to pay outstanding rental for 3 months from july 2017 to september 2017 equal to RM18,000 , deliver vacant possession on 30/09/2017 and double rental if they failed to complied with the notice. They did reply saying the finalised agreement is end of July 2017 therefore the calculation of rental starts on August 2017. We reply saying we don’t agree to it. Since they decided not to continue with the agreement so we only referred to the previous agreement that already expired on 31/05/2017. And the correct calculation is supposedly from June 2017 to september 2017 equal to RM24,000-00. Then we claim for Rm24,000-00 and stating that as long as they still occupying the land they liable for the rental.

    We also stated that they can’t enter the lands unless and until they pay the arrears so if they enter they consider as trepass. Later, on 13/09/2017 my boss saw 1 lorry came enter into the lands and suspected they take out the fish out. So my boss has made a police report.

    They replied not agree to it because they referred to our 1st notice and said that we both agreed verbally that the rental in June 2017 is being waived. As far as we concerned never did we verbally agreed to it. Not in any of our email conversations and not in our telephone conversation. We replied by mostly similar to the previous notice only we add on saying that we made police report due to trespassed by their employee.

    Then they only replied not agree to the claims of RM24,000-00 never reply about the trespassed.

    But since our boss does not want to prolong the matter anymore we just agreed to claim from july 2017 – september 2017 equals to RM18,000-00 &vacant possession. However, they never replied to us at all after that. Even in their replied before never did they mention whether they agreed to pay the amount or to vacant possession or need more time to vacant the lands.

    We wait until 30/09/2017. Since no response from the tenant anymore we decided to proceed with legal action. our boss has instructed lawyer to proceed with distress. The hearing is on 11/10/2017.

    So, 1st question does the above action by us are right? Is distress helps us? Because honestly I think distress is not the right way. There is other way is more suitable. Like just proceed with writ summon and statement of claim for rental, double rental, vp and trespass. After getting judgment and if the tenant still not paying or deliver vp we can proceed with writ of possession and committal proceeding.

    then 2nd question what do you think the right proceeding?

    thank you.

  4. Carl Johnson

    hi. i am a tenant in a semi-d. last week, the neighboring (vacant) house had a water leak. i reported it. by the time the water was shut off, there was considerable damage. i can no longer use my bedroom. i asked what is being done, but the agent says it is between the two house owners. i am not satisfied and believe that i 1) saved both units from destruction, and 2) should be given a reduction to the rental amount. the lease is up in two months, the landlord already has the equivalent of 2 months from my deposit. is it ok to just not pay rent and leave at the end of the lease?

    • Chat Property Malaysia
      Author

      Do study the tenancy agreement that you have signed. If TA specified you can used the deposit to offset the last 2 months rental.Otherwise, do negotiate with the landlord.

Leave a Reply to Lulu Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *