Maintenance is paid by landlord or tenant?

Freddy

Hi, i just moved in to Bayu Puteri Apartment on MAY and after i moved in, i realized that a lot of things has spoiled (eg, tap, plug, etc).

At first, i was thinking of asking a repairman to fix it and just a few days, my room's fluorescent light spoiled! And i asked the master room tenant, they asked me to go and buy the light and fix it myself. So, ok, i am done with it.

After that i requested them to help me to claim the fluorescent light from the owner that i bought and they told me that all the things which spoil and need maintenance will be bear by the tenant themselves.

And i asked the master room tenant that which means this is not operating lease while the tenant have to bear the risk and they told me that this is the normal practice!!?? Can anyone/ professional tell me whether this is a normal practice? As when i was renting a house in KL, all the maintenance and repair fees will be paid my owner, no matter how small is the amount.

And there is NO rental agreement. Can anyone please help me? Thanks.
Coz they told me the light needs 2 to 3 times replacement a year as the light is ring light, not the normal light.

Fortunately, i didn't go and find a repairmen to fix the thing, if not i am going to bear all the amount!!!!

pklbtjf · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 6:10 pm Post subject:

well.. for my house, all the maintenance expenses are bear by the landlord.. but every things must go through her but cant done by ourselves.. she not accept reimbursement expenses after we done/change the spoiled things.. we must inform her wat the things spoiled or need to repair, then she'll ask her contractor come and repir for us..
but the disadvantage is sumtimes we need to wait a long time for the arrangement of our timetable with the contractor's time.. Sad

like wat the landlord said, if we cant wait, then we jus take out the money from our pocket lo.. Confused

Freddy · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 10:58 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, this is exactly the practice with my old owner in KL. But the different is we can contact the repairman anytime but this repairman is required by the owner.
But now my case is the old tenant, which is the master room tenant, a couple told me directly that all the maintenance, we ourselves need to bear. Ridiculous!!!

I suspected that the couple is the owner of the apartment as only they have the owner's contact and they have no doubt on tenant have to bear the maintenance which means they are happy to pay for the maintenance themselves.

Additionally, this cannot be called as Operating Lease which the tenant need to bear the risk while the owner enjoying the benefit!!!

How can i know who is the owner and if i found can i sue him??

Really makes me worry. Crying or Very sad

pklbtjf · Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 11:26 pm Post subject:

arrr?? u wan sue the landlord/master room tenants ohh?? den this kind of things i duno liao lo... im legal idiot Sad

...

u try to get the contact number with ur main tenants lo.. see whether they willing to give u or not...

but for our house, other than change the spoiled things, the landlord also dun wan bear any responsible on others maintenance fee such as grass-cutting, fixed water filter and etc.... she said all those things must paid by ourselves if we wan fixed water filter and we must cut the grass frequently to make sure her house look nice.. she also unhappy if we put the nails on the wall as she claim that the wall will got many holes after we take out the nails.. she jus wan the house look as new as before she rent the house for us.. Neutral

Freddy · Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 10:39 am Post subject:

I don't like to be cheated. Anyway, thanks for your advice.

Haha..where are you staying. I feel like I prefer your landlord more Laughing

Tidy and clean + I always have grass-cutting in my hometown!!

friedice · Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:24 am Post subject:

strictly speaking:

maintenance = landlord
tenancy agreement charges = tenant

In the tenancy agreement it is spelled out what maintenance the landlord is responsible for. It would be ridiculous if you expect the landlord to come sweep your house or cut the grass. Use your common sense and always refer to the tenancy agreement. Do u expect by maintenance that the landlord comes to clean you toilets?! duh

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pklbtjf · Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:33 am Post subject:

hahhaa... im not tat rich like u staying in apartment..
im jus staying in small house at pj area only... Neutral

pklbtjf · Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 11:37 am Post subject:

jusco · Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 12:16 pm Post subject:

the problem here is that they dun have a rental agreement. so you cant argue with your tenant, landlord or owner.
as there is no black and white to support ur arguement.

lesson learned, get a rental agreement.. even a simple one also can do...

pklbtjf · Posted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:15 pm Post subject:

my house also no rental agreement one.. we jus verbally agreement only...

r u sure there REALLY no rental agreement between the main tenants and the landlord?? i think wat he/she mentioned earlier means tat there is no agreement btw he/she with the main tenants... as i know, most of landlords will insists to get an agreement with the main tenants if the tenants are 1st time rent the house with the landlord bcox both parties din know each others.. then after the agreement expired, maybe there is no further renewal of agreement if the landlord trust on the tenants... like my current house situation... Razz

Freddy · Posted: Thu Jul 30, 2009 4:00 pm Post subject:

Friedice: I don't have the agreement, plus only the main tenant have the contact of the landlord, plus the main tenant told me that they don't have agreement with the landlord. If i have the agreement, i surely will refer to the agreement first before i complaint. You are right, the normal works like sweeping floor, washing toilet, cutting grass, getting the house clean is tenant responsibility, but my problem is I want to claim the COST that i incurred for spoiled light! there is nothing to do with house chores. Anyway, thanks.

Jusco and pklbtjf: I agree. Before renting a house, both parties should sign an agreement and if they don't have (like what pklbtjf said, when the landlord trust the tenant), you need to ask them whether the landlord is going to bear the maintenance, if landlord bear then ok. If landlord won't bear, then need to be careful.

The problem with landlord not bearing maintenance is when something spoil, then everyone will become dummy. My living room light spoiled one, water filter is black, bathroom shower spoil(before move in the main tenant promise to repair, but till now...become dummy), kitchen door with no handle (so anytime theft also can visit my house) Twisted Evil

pklbtjf · Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 1:13 am Post subject:

jusco · Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 10:21 am Post subject:

maybe he/she stays at ground floor ler.. Laughing

pklbtjf · Posted: Fri Jul 31, 2009 6:24 pm Post subject:

ground floor?? i tot ground floor is car parking??

mrmoto · Posted: Sun Aug 02, 2009 8:50 pm Post subject: