MINSYAM SDN BHD v CHOO LIN (M) SDN BHD

Case Significance

Illustrates a tenant's claim for breach and trespass failing after the expiry of a fixed-term tenancy where no breach is proved and no periodic tenancy is established, with appellate restraint applied to the trial court's findings of fact.

This High Court decision at Shah Alam concerns an appeal from the Sessions Court in a dispute over a tenancy that had run its fixed term, and the limits of appellate interference with findings of fact. The plaintiff had sued the defendant in the Sessions Court for breach of a tenancy agreement and trespass, and the Sessions Court dismissed the entire claim with costs of RM20,000 after a full trial; the plaintiff appealed. The issues included whether, the tenancy having been for a fixed term of two years with no renewal of the tenancy contract, a periodic tenancy had arisen so that the plaintiff remained a lawful tenant after the fixed term expired, whether the defendant had breached or repudiated the agreement by entering into an agreement with another tenant, whether the plaintiff was entitled to the relief claimed, and whether the Sessions Court judge had erred in fact and law in dismissing the claim. The court reaffirmed the settled law on the burden of proof, that a party claiming loss must first prove its claim under sections 101 to 103 of the Evidence Act 1950, and that if it fails to do so there is no need for the court to assess any damages, drawing on Sumbang Projeks Sdn Bhd v Tenaga Nasional Berhad. Reviewing the Sessions Court's findings, the court held that they were accurate and supported by the evidence, that the defendant had not breached any clause of the tenancy agreement, and that on the balance of probabilities the plaintiff had failed to prove its case. Applying the principle of appellate restraint towards findings of fact, the court found no misdirection warranting interference, dismissed the appeal and affirmed the Sessions Court's decision. The judgment is a useful illustration of a tenant's claim failing after the expiry of a fixed-term tenancy where no breach is proved and no periodic tenancy is established.