A Landlord’s Delimma, A Tennants Woe

Bandar Seri Begawan - Even though we are aware that overwhelmingly most tenants pay the rent and look after the property well, it only has to be one bad tenant to turn a landlord life upside down. We have all heard the story.

You know, the one about the unreasonable landlord who refuses to return the security deposit just because there were few dirty' spots left behind on the property. We can't argue that there are unreasonable and unfair landlords. But there also are tenants who reportedly failed to pay their rents and are playing cat and mouse with their landlords.

For so long the reputation for ruthlessness has always lay on the side of the landlords but the RTR Consumer Unit discovered that a landlord's loss could be greater.

Nowadays, with the ever-increasing number of new houses and commercial buildings on its way, it is believed that property in Brunei has slipped to its worst level. In this case, the market favours the tenants, simply because there are too many houses and shops for sale or rent. So, the prices drop automatically.

The supply is more, and the demand is less. Hence, most landlords operate in a very competitive environment where they need to make their offerings as appealing as possible to entice tenants.

And with more and more reported cases on unscrupulous tenant, the RTB Consumer Unit advises landlords to be cautious. The trick for those unscrupulous tenants would initially comply with the rental agreement by paying the deposit and making monthly rental payments.

However, a few months later, the rental payment would stop and various excuses would come flooding in. Excuses such as people, owing them money, redundancy, issuing bounce cheques which would eventually accumulate into not only months of overdue rental but also in utility costs including water and electricity not being paid. The tenant might then move on to another property causing the same distress to another unlucky landlord.

It depends on the nature of their tenancy agreement, but usually there is an express clause concerning payment of rent. In any event, such a clause would be an implied one.

This means if a tenant fails to pay rent, the landlord is usually entitled to end the tenancy agreement as well to seek possession of their premises.

It is advisable for landlords to avoid such common distress brought upon by unscrupulous tenants by performing background checks on prospective tenants, vetting a testimonial from their previous landlords besides getting a credit check.

Obviously, not all tenants are bad and not all landlords are good. There must be a sizeable number of good people in both categories, or no one would be renting anything from anyone.

Notwithstanding your best efforts, any relationship can go sour. If, however, you do proper planning and keep lines of communication open, you will greatly lessen the likelihood of an unpleasant rental experience. -- Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin

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