Tenancy Law In Malaysia: Evicting Tenants

• Published date: 21 February 2023
• Subject Matter: Real Estate and Construction, Real Estate, Landlord & Tenant - Leases
• Law Firm: Kevin Wu & Associates
• Author: Tiffany Ding
• topic: Contracts,Civil Procedure

A tenancy agreement is a binding contract between a tenant and a landlord which outlines the rights and responsibilities of each party during the tenancy period. The tenancy period is usually created for a term which does not exceed three (3) years, otherwise it will be considered as a lease.

A tenancy agreement comprises of various terms such as the tenancy period, deposit and rental amount, mode of payment, notice period, option to renew, inventory list and so on. So, what happens if the tenant defaults in paying the monthly rental or if there is no notice period in the tenancy agreement? Can the landlord claim for double rental if the tenant holds over the premises without the owner's consent?

The Remedy of Self-Help

Many a times, landlords will resort to self-help measures to recover the property from the tenant such as changing the locks to the property, shutting off water and/or electricity supply to the property or simply removing the tenant's belongings from the property, without having any regard as to whether they are violating the law. Section 7(2) of the Specific Relief Act 1950 extinguishes a landlord's right to recover possession of his property through the remedy of self-help, instead the landlord is obliged to recover possession of the property via proceedings in court. A landlord who takes...