Hello everyone, I hope this is the right channel to ask this. I would like your advice on the predicament I am in now

About 10 years ago my parents bought a property and put it under my name, in case anything happens to them. In those 10 years they rented it out to a young couple and collected rent as their monthly income (they are retired). The tenants recently moved out in June. They have not responded to my dad’s messages and phone calls since then, so I am assuming that they have made a conscious decision to ghost us completely and permanently.

Come December, I am essentially taking over the house and moving in. However, the previous tenant left a lot of headache for me to handle:


TNB Bill
They left me with a RM2.8k TNB bill, which is under my name. In between when they moved out and myself moving in, I have been and will be paying RM100 per month to make sure it does not get cut.

I am contemplating between paying it all off so I will have a clean slate when I move in (which will hurt my wallet definitely), or paying only my portion of the bill per month when I move in. Or, I will pay a little extra on top of my monthly bill to slowly pay the RM2.8k off. Which of these should I do?


Indah Water Account
The Indah Water account is under the previous tenant’s name. I would like to take back ownership to avoid having anyone chasing me in the future. What would the process be? And would I still be expected to settle the tenant’s previous bill? I remember hearing that if the place is vacated for a minimum of 6 months with proof of the water bill (is there any other proof I will need?), the Indah Water bill will be waived. But will it only be waived for the vacation period, or any previous bills before the vacation?


Tenant's possessions
Before the tenants left, they left some stuff at the house and told us they will pick it up later. As I remember, 90% of the stuff is stuff they intended to recycle (glass jars, tin cans etc), a standalone electric oven, some baking supplies (flour, cornflour etc) and some random items like boxes and stuff. Aside from the standalone electric oven (which is quite old tbh), nothing else seems of any personal worth.

My parents have gotten rid of the recyclable stuff because we did some minor renovation and it was getting in the way, but the rest are still in the house. If I were to get rid of all the remaining items, would it cause any legal trouble for me in the future if ever the tenants resume contact (which I highly doubt right now)?

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Another thing to note is that this is essentially my first house, so any other advice for first time homeowner who is inheriting a lot of these past tenants problems would be helpful. Is there anything that I might need to look out for? Any other loose ends I might miss? Thanks in advance~

This post has been edited by hikarireika: Sep 25 2019, 10:48 AM

Did ur dad still holding their deposit? If yes, u may consider to use that to repay the electricity and indah water

Anyway, how long they last contact ur parents?

Oh ya, if u have the tenancy agreement, do read the clauses, those possession, forfeit deposit etc

If no agreement sign, this one very hard to argue.

Tenancy agreement is the only legal documents that stated landlords and tenant obligations and rights. If you don't have the tenancy agreement. All the problems you stated above very hard to solve, but looking for the bright side, you can throw all their stuff if your parents didn't have any tenancy agreement with them.

TNB bill - does not really matter if pay off all at once or instalments - just a matter of preference and which would give you a peace of mind and close the chapter on that unfortunate case.


Indahwater - just call them up and say you want to register for a new account for your house. they would need proof of ownership (i would think that if the bill was in tenant's name they would be liable personally).

like what others have said -be guided by your TA - if dont have just throw away all those stuff ..but i suggest you just text that ex tenant to give them a deadline to clear ..at least you have evidence to show you tried to contact them..just in case..

This post has been edited by nookie188: Sep 26 2019, 09:26 AM