Donkey lawyers

Last paper on 29th May 2012, 9.00am, it is Land Law. Should be preparing for exam instead of getting stressed by other issues but things just happened and needed to be fixed.. *sigh*

I wasn't and still not proud of the legal profession, I guess it is because I don't really enjoy my college life doing external programme that is 100% exam based. Irony part is that I'm always the one ended up solving my dad's or any other family members' problem regarding on tenancy agreement, evictions and small claims. I think my dad is right, I may not enjoy doing what I'm studying right now but that doesn't mean I can't learn the skills and knowledge, later put it to good use.

Currently working on 2 cases, another small claim from shitty tenant for overdue rents, and filing eviction notice to former property owner. I can understand why my dad wants me to do the small claim, because you will end up spending more for legal fees if you were to get a lawyer involved, but I can never understand how a lawyer survive not knowing how to handle difficult tenant! See scenario given.

Problem:

3 months overdue rent from tenant, 2 months of utilities not paid, damaged newly renovated bathroom and ceiling, total estimation of claim no more than RM5000.

Lawyer A advised my dad to do the common practice- lock up the house when nobody is in there, stop all water an electricity.. 

That is a big no no which drives me crazy because this advice comes from a certified legal practitioner! For heaven sake, it is lucky that my dad told me about it and has the sense of doing it the right way. 

What we did:

We gave an eviction notice to the tenant by dropping a copy in his post box although we knew he is not likely to receive it because the tenant hardly show up in the house anymore. Courier another copy to the addressed provided ( as per his IC) which we are sure he is now located at, and kept a copy ourselves, giving a grace period of 1 month for the bugger to pack up whatever shit he needs to pick up and get lost. Towards the end in serving the notice, we filed an eviction summons in court against the tenant, claiming overdue rent, utilities and also to get our right over the property again. Of which that time the tenant moved out, but not a single cent paid. So now we are in the process of filing for small claim against outstanding rental as well as other expenses incurred ie. repair of damages done in the premise...etc

Often people follow the common practice of cutting off utilities, and seal off the premise by locking up the gates and entrance without giving any eviction or termination notice. The problem lies here, two out of ten of these shitty tenant might be smart enough to pay a little to claim damages from the landlord and even filing for an injunction against he landlord from disturbing his or her stay on the premise. Well, bottom line for this situation is that when the tenant fail to pay rent, they do not contribute any form of consideration to the contract, so eventually the tenancy will lapse. But with all the proceedings that the tenant filed against the landlord, the owner of the property will later face a lot of trouble in getting back his/ her property. That's because Malaysia law protects tenants more than the owner of the property- landlord, or in short, the law is pro- tenant.

It pays to learn a lesson in real life. We experienced once and learnt our lesson, as for Lawyer A? We said good bye to him.