Hi there

I'm a bit confused

My estate agent is talking about a booking fee to secure a property rental when it becomes available (when current tenant leaves).

Is this different to the deposit?

And what is a utilities deposit? how does that work and do I stand any chance of getting that back?

thanks in advance!

OS

I am not absolutely certain, but I think the booking fee IS an agency fee for using them. However, I also thought that that fee is paid by the owner, not the tenant (worth checking up on!) and is different to the deposit. If it is paid by the owner, then be very firm in your refusal to pay.

Deposit in Malaysia is usually 2 months rent, and you also normally pay 1 months rent in advance.

The utilities deposit is something all utility companies take. The amount depends on what they guess your average usage will be. For instance, our electricity in the first few months after arrival was around RM 350-400 per month because we had aircon on almost all day every day. TN increased our utility deposit (I think the owner's utility deposit was originally around RM 100) which we paid for ourselves. We don't use anywhere the same amount of electricity now, and it is normally around 1/2 what it was a year ago. We haven't had the deposit reduced though! The reason for the deposit is in case you do a runner (which has been a frequent event in Malasyia it would seem)! To the best of my knowledge though, it is refundable at the end of your tenancy (I don't mean your tenancy period, I mean when you move out for good!).

If I have my facts wrong, no doubt someone will come along and explain better!

Make sure you have a proper rental agreement drawn up and have a very good read through it before you sign on the dotted line. The agreements cover both the landlord and tenant's interests so it is really worth doing.

It looks like this guy is a bookie and not an agent. Never heard about a booking fee to secure a tenancy.

The general feedback on this forum is that you do not need to pay the agent any commission since she/he is paid by the landlord.

I see that a bit differently but it also depends on how you approach an agent. If you call one and ask him to find an apartment according to your specification you engage him and if he does a good job she/he should earn something. If you are honest and tell him upfront to work for you without paying you might end up looking for ever. The legal way is that an agent can collect only form one party up to 3%. Common practice in Penang is 1% from each party. So if you are happy…

If you call an agent to show you an apartment you saw on the/his web and he shows you many more, because the one does not exist or is rented since a long time it’s a different story.

Most of landlords let water and electricity run under their name. It saves a lot of hustle with changing tenants. If this is the case you have to pay the utility deposit to the landlord which will be refunded when you show him the last fully paid TNB or PBA bill.

Good luck

You should also get it chopped by the Hasil - costs a bit more (I think mine was 87 RM), but it makes it legal. This is not just a 10 RM Hasil stamp from Pos Malaysia.

thanks everyone!

So I got the agent to spell out what the booking fee was in our situation. It's a deposit equal to one month rent that is non refundable if we back out, but pays the first month rent when we take over the tenancy from the current tenants. This is because we wanted a house in a very a specific location where availability is rare.

Thanks again!