Contributed by Sulaiman Saheh
Back in 2018, as part of the National Housing Policy (2018–2025), a Residential Tenancy Act (RTA) was mooted as the means to protect and safeguard the benefit and welfare of both landlord and tenant when they enter a tenancy or rental agreement.
The intention is to improve the level of accessibility and affordability of rental homes for the people as well as provide a more consolidated and legislated framework for such rental agreements to operate and be enforced.
Though sprinkles of updates and news were heard over the years, the biggest development seen for the RTA formation was just back in January 2022 when the Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT) had reached out to seek feedback from the public and stakeholders on the proposed RTA bill.
Following the one-month public consultation period and the results that had been released, many opinions were formed by various bodies and parties. Credit was given by many to the government’s continued effort to make the rental dream come true but criticisms and suggestions were also expressed on how the current proposal could be made better and fairer for all parties involved.