Study on anti-discrimination clauses in Residential Tenancy Act to be done, says Reezal

KUALA LUMPUR: A study will be carried out on whether it is suitable to include provisions prohibiting racial discrimination in the proposed Residential Tenancy Act (RTA), says Datuk Seri Reezal Merican Naina Merican.

The Housing and Local Government Minister that added the matter needs to be looked in to more detail with regard to the local context.

“The discrimination issue, yes it is true. I have heard and seen it myself. But we are still studying in detail in terms of local circumstances,” he said.

Reezal said this when replying to a supplementary question by Ong Kian Ming (PH-Bangi) in the Dewan Rakyat on Monday. (Nov 1).

Ong asked if anti-discriminatory provisions would be included in the proposed law to deal with discriminatory practices by landlords based on race or nationality.

Reezal noted that some countries do have anti-discrimination laws.

“For example, Australia has it and the United States has its Fair Housing Act 1968 which prohibits any advertisement for rental or sale (of premises) based on racial preferences," said Reezal.

“But in Malaysia, when we talk about question of discrimination, it is more of preference. It would be awkward if there are laws that restrict the rights of property owners and their preferences," he added.

Reezal then said that the suitability of such provisions would be studied in detail.

On the proposed RTA, he said that the process to draft the new law was initiated in 2019 and is scheduled to be tabled in Parliament by July next year.

He said the new law was needed on the tenancy agreements to seek a better balance between the rights of landlords and tenants.

He said the proposed law will make it easier for the supervision of rental agreements, starting from the pre-tenancy agreement period to completion of the agreement.

Among the proposed provisions under the new law is one preventing landlords from raising the rent during the tenancy contract period.

“The rent can only be raised after renewal of the rental period and the landlord must give notice in writing of a minimum 60 days before the expiry of the tenancy agreement," said Reezal

“This will give time to tenants to decide if they want to renew the agreement under the new rental rate or not,” he added.

Under the new law, he said that a special tribunal will be set up to handle disputes between landlords and tenants involving a maximum sum of not more than RM250,000.

At present, he said disputes between landlords and tenants could only be settled by way of contract law or the Distress Act and Specific Relief Act.

The tribunal, he added, would speed up the process of settling disputes compared to court proceedings which were a lengthy and costlier process.