Can property agents in Malaysia get involved if a tenant and landlord have a dispute?

After months of searching, you finally found the perfect house to rent. You came across a reliable property agent, and he connected you to your landlord. You quickly signed the lease agreement and moved in a few days later. Everything’s going great, but after awhile, you end up running into several problems with the landlord.

You’re at your wits end, and you can only think of asking the property agent who helped you seal the deal for help. But, can your property agent actually get involved at this point? 

There are no specific laws for tenancies in Malaysia

If you didn’t already know, there actually aren’t any specific laws for tenancies in Malaysia. There have been talks of a tenancy Act that will cover the rights of landlords and tenants, but it’s yet to be passed.

Until then, we’ll need to look at other laws, such as the Specific Relief Act 1950 and areas of the law that can be of help. One such area of law is contract law.

When you enter a lease, you would sign a tenancy agreement with the landlord. If you went through a property agent, you would also sign a contract with them. So even if there are no tenancy laws, if you do have valid contracts with these parties, contract law can help you if an issue arises. 

A person who has a contract with you has a responsibility towards you until their end of the bargain is completed. When you have a contract with your property agent, they have a contractual duty to help you out. But the question is, when exactly does your contract with them come to an end?

Check your agreement with them

There’s no standard format for a contract between a property agent and client, but it will cover the rights and responsibilities for both parties. For property agents, generally, their role would be to:

• show you accurate listings and give you a viewing of the actual house
• tell you the actual condition of the house and disclose all important facts related to the house
• help you and the other party (landlord/tenant/seller/buyer) enter into a formal agreement
• help you with any other necessary paperwork
• successfully close the deal for you

On your end, your job is to pay them for all these services. Once all this is done, the deal is finalized. And once the deal is finalized, that would actually be the end of their duties towards you.

So if they do help you beyond this, it’s outside the scope of your contract with them. Which means that legally, there isn’t an obligation on them to help you.

The other thing to note is that the only parties to a tenancy contract are the landlord and the tenant(s)—it will not involve the property agent. Again, this shows that it’s not compulsory for the property agent to help if there’s an issue between the landlord and tenant.

What if your property agent is the reason for the problem?

What we’ve discussed so far is the general rule: property agents don’t need to get involved in landlord-tenant disputes. But an exception to this is if a problem cropped up because of the property agent.

For example, the landlord had mentioned to the property agent that pets aren’t allowed in the house. This wasn’t in your tenancy agreement, but the landlord told the property agent to communicate this to you, the tenant. However, the property agent failed to tell you this. When you moved in with your pet, your landlord was unhappy and told you to evict the home. Because your property agent failed to disclose what the landlord told him, he can be held responsible if you’re forced to move out from the house.

Your property agent can also help as a witness in your dispute. For example, your landlord did agree to  having pets in the house, but later denied it. If your property agent has proof of this, they can testify as a witness if you ever take the case to court. 

So all in all, there is nothing to stop property agents from helping when a dispute arises, but they don’t have to do so, because there’s no such legal obligation for them to do so. In any event, always make sure to keep proof of all transactions with both your landlord/tenant and property agent as it may help you later.

And if you’re in a massive dispute with your landlord but the property agent is unable to help, you should seek help from a lawyer who will tell you your rights based on the tenancy agreement. In very serious cases, you can also go to the police.