Tenant Renting Guide

I use to rent a place with a few friends while studying at KL back then, it wasn't easy looking for a house when budget is tight. I can recall a few times when we got cheated by fraud landlord. The first time was when we place a booking on an apartment, only ending up not getting back our money and not having a place to stay because the landlord apparently suddenly vanish after we pay the deposit. And the second time we got cheated not by the landlord but by the head tenant (the person who collect money from us and give it to the landlord), when we decided to move out, she refuse to return our utility deposit money and claim that we were the one who cheated on her (that's another story).

Although people may say that it's good that we can rent a place to stay (instead of staying with our parents or relatives), atleast we're more independent and allow us to grow up and be in control of our own life. But it's not fun renting a place that is not your own, you can face problem like cheated by landlord, agent or housemates, sometime get evicted without prior notice. I can certainly says that looking for a place to stay is not the easiest thing to do and especiallly looking for a good landlord who won't cheat you of your hard earn money. Renting a place to stay means paying deposit, monthly rent and water & electricity bill.

Here are a few tips for tenants:

1. Determine your requirements: Budget, Location, Type of Property, Property Size, Duration of Tenancy, Furnish or unfurnished.
2. Budget: The standard procedure for renting a house or apartment as required by the landlord is 1 month deposit + 1 month rent + Utility Deposit or 2 months deposit + 1 month rent + utility deposit. So you need to make sure that you can afford to pay your monthly rent on time.
3. Location: (A) Proximity and access to work place. (B) Access to schools (C) Nearby sundry shop, leisure, religious facilities, parks. (D) Safety
4. Types of Property: Landed and non-landed property. Landed means house that are detached, semi-detached, and link-house. Non-landed include condominium, apartment and flats. Rooms are also available to let in a private homes.
5. Property size: Make a checklist of your requirement e.g number of rooms, bathroom, kitchen size, land area, built up area.
6. Duration of tenancy: The normal tenancy term is 1year. You can negotiate with your landlord for a term which suits your requirements. If you want to move out, usually you are required to give 1-2months notice to the landlord (as written in the agreement), so that he/she may be able to find a replacement soon.
7. Furnished or Unfurnished: If you're a student or working adult, it is usually preferable to rent a house with utilities such as fridge, gas stove, microwave, kitchen cabinet, TV, sofas available. So that you don't have to buy it yourself since you're only going to stay there for a couple of years.
8. Arrange for viewing: You can find places to rent on the classified section of your daily newspaper, the Internet (www.mudah.com.my), poster or notice on the notice board of the apartment you want to rent. During viewing, note down the property details and your evaluation of the property, this will help you compare the properties. Take your time during viewing, don't hesitate to open windows, water taps, lights and fan, just to make sure that everything is in order.
9. Make an offer: A landlord asking price is usually higher than the price they will actually settle for and usually negotiable. Rentals on similar properties allows you to know the market rent should be. If there are a lot of other people asking about the house, then negotiating might not be easy. Landlord may either accept, reject or counter-offer, and neogtiations will continue until a rent is agreed.
10. The rental agreement: Upon signing of agreement, you will be expected to pay 1month deposit + 1month rent + utility deposit. Rental agreement will have the landlord and tenants particulars, address of the property, the agreed rent, the term and commencement date, as well as the tenant's and landlord's terms and conditions. The tenancy agreement also include the inventory of the items in the property, before signing the agreement, make sure everything is in ordered to avoid any dispute at the end of the tenancy. You may also take pictures when you move in to avoid any dispute as to whether any defects were already present when you moved in.
11. Leaving the property at the end of the tenancy: If your tenancy is coming to an end and you do not wish to renew, you need to check your rental agreement to make sure whether you need to give notice to the landlord that you wanted to terminate the tenancy. Before leaving, go through the inventory to ensure you are leaving the property as you got it at the start of the tenancy, otherwise the landlord may be entitled to keep part or all of your deposit. Make sure you pay your outstanding bill because if you fail to do so, the landlord may not return your utilities deposit.