MOHD SHUKRI BIN OMAR v NAZ KEL SDN. BHD.

Case Significance

A companion possession decision applying the same reasoning to a second neighbouring tenancy, reinforcing that interim rent accepted during negotiations for a new lease is not a waiver and that an uncontested-fact possession claim may proceed by originating summons.

This High Court decision at Kota Bharu is the companion to a parallel possession dispute between the same landlord and tenant company, this time concerning a tenancy agreement dated 1 July 2020 over an adjoining unit at Pasir Tumboh, Kelantan. As in the related matter, the landlord commenced an originating summons (saman pemula) under sections 7 and 8 of the Akta Relief Spesifik 1950 (Specific Relief Act 1950) seeking a declaration that the tenancy had been terminated and an order for delivery of vacant possession. The factual matrix was materially identical: after the original term ended the parties negotiated an extension on revised terms, including a higher monthly rent, but no new agreement was signed because the tenant insisted that the fresh lease be entered into with a third company rather than in its own name. The tenant again resisted on two grounds — that the landlord's acceptance of rent for March and April 2024 was a penepian (waiver) of the right to terminate, and that the proceedings should be converted from an originating summons to a writ action. The Court reached the same conclusions as in the parallel case. It held that receipt of the March and April 2024 rent was not a waiver, being consistent with the interim arrangement the parties had agreed while negotiating a new tenancy, and it found that the dispute raised no complex or seriously contested factual questions, so that the originating summons procedure was appropriate. Being satisfied on the balance of probabilities that the landlord had established the claim, the Court allowed the application, declared the tenancy created by the 1 July 2020 agreement to be at an end, and ordered the tenant to deliver vacant possession within 30 days, with costs of RM5,000.00 subject to allocatur. Read alongside its companion, the decision shows a consistent treatment of waiver and procedure across two related tenancies of neighbouring units.