A law to stop landowners from evicting tenants or raising rentals indiscriminately will be tabled next year, says housing and local government minister Zuraida Kamaruddin.

She said the Residential Tenancy Act, which will also seek to protect the rights of landowners, is expected to be tabled in Parliament in the first quarter of 2022.

She said the Act, which was originally slated to be tabled this year, will take into account the interests of both landowners and tenants while ensuring that owners do not raise rental rates or evict tenants at their whims and fancies.

“The Residential Tenancy Act is now at the preparatory stage. This Act will offer protection to tenants,” she told FMT.

This follows an FMT report highlighting the plight of young workers living in “storeroom-like” conditions in the Klang Valley as a result of high rental rates.

Salkukhairi Abd Sukor, president of Persatuan Guaman Hartanah Malaysia, had urged Putrajaya to speed up the introduction of the Act to prevent landlords from imposing unreasonable rates.

In August last year, Zuraida’s deputy, Ismail Muttalib, said the government was expected to table the much-anticipated Act this year.

Source: FreeMalaysiaToday.com