A Malaysian woman’s plan to rent a house allegedly turned into a stressful ordeal after the homeowner cancelled the rental arrangement but refused to return the full deposit.
According to the woman, she had paid RM3,800 directly to the homeowner as part of the rental process.
However, things reportedly took a turn when the owner later cancelled the deal.
Said landlord wanted to keep RM1,000
According to mStar, the woman claimed that the homeowner only agreed to return part of the money and wanted to keep RM1,000 from the amount she had paid.
She said this left her confused and upset, especially as she had not signed any tenancy agreement.
“Does Malaysia have no law? I wanted to rent a house directly from the owner and had already banked in RM3,800.
“In the end, the owner wanted to cancel. When I asked her to return the money, she said she had to take the booking fee even though I had not signed any one plus one document,” she wrote.
The woman further claimed that the owner was the one who cancelled the arrangement, yet still insisted on keeping part of the money.
She wants to take RM1,000. She was the one who cancelled, then she said I was being harmful,” she added.
Had not moved in or received keys
The woman said she was shocked by the situation, as she had not moved into the house, received the keys, or signed any official documents.
As the issue dragged on, she said she tried to press the homeowner through phone calls in hopes of getting her money back.
However, she claimed the homeowner then refused to return the full amount and even threatened to lodge a police report against her.
“I want my money back. What is so hard about returning it? She wants to report me to the police,” the woman wrote.
Plans to lodge police report
Feeling helpless over the matter, the woman said she now plans to lodge a police report as she believes she may have fallen victim to a scam.
She also said she wanted to share her experience publicly so that others would be more careful when renting directly from homeowners.
While rental deposits are common, her experience has sparked concern over how tenants can protect themselves when money has already been transferred but no agreement has been signed.
For now, the woman is hoping to recover the money she paid before the rental deal fell through.
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