KUALA LUMPUR: Home owners who rent out their properties always hope to have responsible tenants. But there are those who are unlucky as they get those who proved to be nothing less than a "tenant from hell".
Paying rent late, sometimes overdue by several months and even years, such an act burdens landlords and homeowners.
It is estimated that damages totalling RM50,000 had to be borne by a homeowner after having to put up with a "tenant from hell".
Besides failing to pay rent for four years, the tenant also purposely left overdue utility bills of RM800. The tenant also left the house with heaps of rubbish and an awful stench.
The son of a homeowner who only wishes to be known as Jejai said that a property was rented out by his father to a family back in mid- 2017 for RM800 a month.
"I was only informed that a local man with a family was the tenant and that he had been renting the house for close to five years.
"When my father passed away in Dec 2021, I took over the duty of collecting rent and that is when I found out that the tenant had not made payment for the past three months.
"I then met with the tenant to collect the overdue rent and the tenant said he did not have the money. I then told him nicely to please vacate the house so that I could get a paying tenant.
"To my disbelief the errant tenant was defiant and refused to move out. In fact, he mouthed profanities and even hurled threats.
"It came to an end in the middle of last year after I engaged a lawyer," he said.
Jejai said the tenant took advantage of his father's kindness and generosity, recalling his late father had always been non-confrontational.
"My mother was shocked as she did not know that my late father never got a sen in rent from the 'tenant from hell'.
"I just wanted the property back so that I could see to faraid (the syariah formula in inheritance distribution) matters that were inevitably postponed," he said.
Jejai also revealed that they had to bear the cost of RM12,700 just to evict the errant tenant from the house by taking the matter to resolve the conflict once and for all.
He said his family members were now in discussion to sell off the house instead.
He added their property was badly damaged, especially the bathroom flooring, plumbing pipes, furniture and even the doors.
Another homeowner Mazniwati Abdul Malik, 41, was traumatised when her house she rented out was left in disarray, with the tenant running away without settling the rent which was overdue by more than three months.
She disclosed that her tenant even ran off with the house keys.
"I got to know the tenant when he texted me via WhatsApp. At the time, interstate travel was barred due to Covid-19 pandemic.
"The tenant was a local with a family. I thought they would be responsible but they took advantage of me because I live in Pahang.
"They did not pay rent for months and they always tried to delay rent payment with all kinds of excuses. So eventually I ran out of patience and told them that they had to leave because I was going to renovate the house.
"They went quiet and did not inform me that they had vacated the house.
"I decided to come and see the condition of the house for myself and I was so upset and heartbroken by the state it was in," she said, adding that she had to use a metal cutter to open the gate and grill.
Mazniwati said the house was in an appalling state with a revolting stench.
To add insult to injury, all the taps and lights were missing.
Efforts to contact the tenant were futile, and there were also unpaid utility bills of RM1,000 which Mazniwati had to settle.
"I am so traumatised by the experience that I rented it out to a relative instead. I just cannot bear to deal with total strangers," she said.
"Homeowners must always have a rental agreement with tenant to protect their property and interests, because when things go south we are the ones that have to face the consequences and bear the losses," said Mazniwati, who admitted that she did not have a tenancy agreement because she did not think any untoward incident would happen.
Meanwhile, Bee Cleaning Services founder Amurosidah Abdullah, 36, shared that there was a rented house that stank so bad that she thought there could be a dead body rotting away under the pile of clothes and rubbish left behind by the tenant.
She said that her bad experience took place last year and she was shocked by the terrible state of the house after she was asked to help clean it up.
"I felt really bad for the landlord because the tenant ran away leaving the house in shambles and not paying rent for the last six months.
"At the beginning of the Movement Control Order, the landlord gave some flexibility to the tenant not to have to pay rent for three months. Only months later did the landlord realise the tenant had run off.
"Not only was there no rent collected by the homeowner, but the house was in a mess with damages everywhere. I had to rope in four others to help clean up the entire house.
"We had to break the locks to gain entry. The house had a foul stench as there was so much rubbish. The walls were damaged and dirty. I have no idea how the tenant could live with so much filth.
The landlord, who lived in Kelantan, had to bear the cost of more than RM10,000 to clean the house and to repair the damaged doors, walls, unpaid utility bills and the loss of six months in unpaid rent.
