Property investment is the hype but property nightmares are often shoved under the carpets.
In this series of Property Nightmare Stories, PropertyGuru gets down on the ground to find out firsthand what can happen when the tenant or landlord voids a contract.
The Property is a shop office in Kota Damansara. The Landlord has let it to the Tenant for a two-year period for rent of RM2,000 and the agent has prepared the Tenancy Agreement.
After signing and stamping, the Landlord and Tenant held one copy each. The agent did not keep a copy.
A year later, the Tenant wants to terminate the agreement by serving a 60 days’ notice to the Landlord and claimed that the Agreement allowed him to do so.
The Landlord’s copy however, states that the Tenant must rent the Property for a full two-year period and compensate the Landlord for the remaining unexpired term of the tenancy in the event of early termination.
Both Tenancy Agreements have different clauses and the parties proceed to bring the case to Court.
Solutions
In view that the above parties have intended to resolve the issue in Court, witnesses will be called by both parties to collaborate and verify each party’s version of facts.
The agent who attested the Tenancy Agreement is likely to be a material witness.
Alternatively, parties may seek independent party’s verification (in this case, the stamp office) of a copy of the stamped Tenancy Agreement.
As parties may have sent the Agreement for stamping prior to the commencement of the tenancy, provided a full set of the Tenancy Agreement was sent to the stamp office for stamping.
To prevent this situation from happening, parties can:
- Initial every page of the agreement to ensure that the pages/clauses cannot be changed.
- Engage a solicitor firm to prepare the tenancy agreement as the solicitor attending the matter will usually be a witness to the execution of the tenancy agreement and it is a practice that the solicitor firm will keep an extra copy of the tenancy agreement after the tenancy agreement has been executed and stamped.
To visit some of the other nightmares, look for the one you resonate with most:
- Property Nightmare Stories #1: Amanda and her MIA Tenant
- Property Nightmare Stories #2: A Swindler’s Set-Up
- Property Nightmare Stories #3: My Electricity Wasn’t Working So I Stole My Neighbour’s
- Property Nightmare Stories #4: You have 24 hours to get out of my house. April fool… ?
- Property Nightmare Stories #5: Private arrangement between tenants – Less hassle at the moment but more issues in the future?
- Property Nightmare Stories #6: My landlord wanted me to continue paying full rental even though the roof was leaking onto the living room
- Property Nightmare Stories #7: Conned by a fake landlord
- Property Nightmare Stories #9: My Booking Fees Were Forfeited Because The Landlord Kept Delaying
- Property Nightmare Stories #10: Don’t DIY Your Tenancy Agreement!
This article was contributed by Alvin Teo (Advocate & Solicitor- Messrs Mak, Ng, Shao & Kee) and Nicole Ng (Advocate & Solicitor- Messrs Elizabeth Siew & Co).
For more information or legal assistance, contact or email them at 07-3341922 (alvinteo@mnsklaw.com) or 03-8075 0901 (nicole.ng@esc.legal).
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