Hi guys,

Would like to get some advice.

Our old landlord still has our deposit of 1.5 months until now, and we moved out at the end of Sept - her reason was she was waiting for outstanding bills and cleaning+painting charges, then she will deduct those and then only refund the balance to us.

And now she's charging all sort of other things that I believe she shouldn't - eg. she charges 'running fees' as her transport cost from her house to the building to settle the issue of checking mailbox etc., she charges RM100 for access cards which she claimed were damaged (they were working fine on the day we returned the cards and keys to her, so I think we shouldn't be held responsible for this?), and she's charging RM360 for cleaning fee, and another RM400 to repaint the master bedroom.

The paint job she claimed was RM800 for the room, and will be split half - when I asked for the invoice, she said she couldn't provide one because she asked 'odd job worker' to do it, because if she called a proper painter it would have cost rm1200-1500. As far as I know, repainting would be for the whole unit, not just the room, so I believe she also got the unit painted and charged half of that to the deposit.

I'd like to know, is there anything that we as previous tenants can do? Report police or something? The contract itself said the deposit should be refunded upon returning the keys, but she insisted to hold all for the pending bills and others.

We didn't have an agent, dealt directly w/ owner and this has been this way since the previous 2 years - 2 different house leaders and then passed it on.

Appreciate any advice and suggestion!

bcoz no receipt , discount RM400 so much... RM400 you know

if you no ask she also no discount for you right

access card damaged? go management office and ask, whether she got issue new card or not. if really got, maybe she issue to replaced another damaged card then charged it to you lol

rm360 cleaning fee, i think is clean whole house edi, also full charged to you?

running fee, what? I never seen any landlord charge something like this, obviously trying to scam you.

I never experience such case before

but you got black and white right? try to make a police report.

That's why... I don't know any painter who would do just one room, unless she "DIY".


This one she had the receipt from management - that's what I suspect, probably someone else's cards and charge to us, but she challenged us saying, can call and check w/ management and see, haha.


Yea, this one is for the whole unit. I think it's a bit much, I've researched and usually it's around rm60/hour - at most it will take like 3, say max 4 hours to clean, she said no receipt for this because she asked her maid to clean. So her maid got extra rm360? Hahahaha.


First for me too, and I guess can see from how she insisted to withhold all remaining deposit that she would try her best not to refund at all if she could. She could have refunded half first if she had the good intention.


We do have the contract, but last time she said there was no need to get stamp duty and at that time I believed her like the fool I was. I only found out from a few agents recently that if there's no stamp duty, we can't really do much about it. But this is already obvious scamming.

She sent us a picture of the cost breakdown - handwritten.

Now we're all trying to dispute the charges, but she just ignores the questions and I have a feeling that if we keep disputing she will just say something like, take it or leave it, and it will take even longer to get the money back. Just now she already said, if you agree, I will refund now, if not I will be away until 8th Dec, so you'll have to wait another week or so for the money.

wasabiluv,

Do you have records of your communications with the old landlord, especially the part about "'running fees' as her transport cost from her house to the building to settle the issue of checking mailbox."?

I'm not a lawyer, but if you do have the records, maybe you can send the landlord a warning letter that you may take the matter to court. After a reasonable number of days have passed, you can try approach the Tribunal for Consumer Claims or the Small Claims Court.

Your case is much weaker without a stamped tenancy agreement but it's probably not hopeless if you can show proof of the landlord's ridiculous deductions.

Another thing - if the landlord does not want to have the tenancy agreement stamped, she might be trying to avoid paying tax! You need to double check on this but if i'm not mistaken, a landlord can be fined if she fails to stamp the tenancy agreement.



This post has been edited by GenY: Dec 1 2017, 05:40 AM

Yes, it's all in the whatsapp group chat. Is it like just a normal warning letter, or do I need to get it from a lawyer or some kind of other legal body? Also, do we need to pay for the Tribunal/Small Claims Court? One of the tenants said we might need to pay rm300 to lodge a report, but I think he's talking about police report for this one.


Ah yes, this is what my friend told me as well, it's likely that she is avoiding to pay tax that's why she didn't want to stamp it. Is there any way I can check without asking her directly? Or should I ask her and tell her that I'm gonna go report her? Hahahaha. If she's paying then I'll be on the losing side though, but if she's not paying, well then......

Is the fine a lot for such cases?

This post has been edited by wasabiluv: Dec 1 2017, 05:59 PM

Some landlord is fuker , tats y karma come when they rent out to some other Fuker who dont pay them rent and destroy the whole house

just report it
and show that reort to her through whatsapp

You should have a copy of the tenancy agreement. The first page must have the stamp (color and with value). If don't have can proceed to LHDN and report.

Do not let the landlord get away with this.

RM360 bullshit to clean the whole house.

The Tribunal For Consumer Claims
https://ttpm.kpdnkk.gov.my/portal/index.php/en/ttpm

I don't think one needs to pay RM300 just to lodge a report. Tribunal For Consumer Claims needs only a filing fee of RM5.

You can just tell the landlord via whatsapp that you will go to the tribunal if both parties fail to reach an agreement by a certain date. Be polite, NO threats of any kind.

Good luck and do keep us updated

paint the room yourself and bill her m1200-1500 / 2 if you have made the room not tenant-able,

offer to clean her room for RM360 monthly.

else negotiate reasonably.

This post has been edited by lowya: Dec 2 2017, 11:09 AM

be careful one sided story before jump the gun.

You shouldn't leave the house after giving the notice, the deposit is rental fee for the last month stay without unnecessary money exchange or dealing with the owner.

Every owner will feel bad when tenant is leaving, business is gone and need effort to find new one. So they get mix feeling to return the money that they don't own.

This is fraud and unethical ...go report to the police

Deposit cannot be used to offset any rental. Deposit is refundable upon expiry of tenancy. Deposit is deductible for any cost of repairs if the damage is done by the tenant.

The landlord (in fact, many landlords) did not honour the T&Cs of the tenancy. So why should the tenant honour it?

I agree with sonypshomer. Unless a tenant have good rapport with the landlord (and even then, sometimes the tenant gets cheated), it's best to used the security deposit to offset the last 1-2 months of rental.

There's no reward in being a nice tenant who pays the rental and utility bills on time - nice tenants get shortchanged by greedy landlords.

This post has been edited by Veda: Dec 5 2017, 12:27 AM