SHE thought it best to rent out rather than leave the family's holiday home in Johor Bahru vacant.

But a rogue tenant not only defaulted on the rent but also left the two-storey terrace house suddenly, leaving it allegedly in a mess.

Among the expensive items allegedly stolen were two silk carpets, a white cabinet and a framed decorative embroidery which amounted to at least $1,300.

Madam Harmoniwati Mansor, 45, now does not know how to trace the tenant, believed to be a Singaporean man.

She and her husband, who works for a shipping company, bought the house in Taman Mutiara Rini, Skudai, in 2000 for about RM300,000 ($122,000).

They also own an executive flat in Pasir Ris.

When they grew tired of going to their JB house every weekend, she decided to rent it out.

She found a tenant through another man who initially wanted to rent the house but backed out as he found the rental too high.

But the man who took the lease, Mr Din (not his real name), turned out to be a tenant from hell.

Madam Harmoniwati claimed that as a first-time landlord, she was unsure of rental procedures.

She didn't even insist on a written contract.

'I was really stupid. He looked very trustworthy and 'religious'. We agreed on the rental conditions mutually. I trusted him too much.'

He told her he is a Singaporean and showed her a pink IC. She didn't take a copy nor did she write down the IC number.

The one-year verbal agreement was made on 25 Oct last year and she handed over the keys to him.

The only thing she got from him was RM1,900, comprising one month's deposit, one month's rent of RM800 and RM300 for utilities.

He soon began defaulting on rent, claimed Madam Harmoniwati. The last time he paid his rent was on 29May, she said.

Even then, it didn't occur to her to check on him.

She claimed she 'drove past' the house a couple of times and saw clothes hung out to dry.

On 28 Jun, she received an SMS saying that he would return the house to her two days later. She replied that he should honour the one-year rental agreement.

'He didn't reply after that and I thought he understood what I meant. So I let it go at that,' she said.

But Madam Harmoniwati received a shock on 17 Jul when her brother visited the Johor house.

She said: 'He called me immediately when he saw that the gate and main door of my house unlocked and there was no one inside. He also told me that some of my things were dumped near the front door.'

She said she went to Mr Din's home in Tampines the next day, but his mother told her that he had left for Kuala Lumpur with his family earlier that day.

He had taken a set of the JB house keys with him.

Madam Harmoniwati and her husband then went to their Johor home. She was shocked by what she saw.

She said: 'They left their rubbish and cardboard boxes at the porch and there were hammers, brooms, garden scissors, cangkul (Malay for a tool for digging) and a clothes-drying rack strewn all over the grass patch beside the porch.

'My children's bunk bed frames were dismantled and dumped near the main door.'

When The New Paper visited the house last Friday, she showed us a broken kitchen cabinet door and a broken door knob in one of the bedrooms. She claimed the damage was caused by her tenant.

She claimed she lost furniture like mattresses and carpets.

Orphanage?

A neighbour, who gave her name as Madam Ani, said that she saw many children, aged 3 to 6, in that house and heard other neighbours saying that the house was actually an orphanage.

She said in Malay: 'A lady in her 30s who stayed there (in Madam Harmoniwati's house) spoke to me once and I asked her if the house was an orphanage. She didn't answer me and kept quiet for a while before saying that there are four families living in that house.'

Madam Harmoniwati has made a police report in Singapore. She is also deciding whether to make a similar report in Johor.

Mr Din could not be reached on his Singapore handphone nor his Malaysian one.

Meanwhile, Madam Harmoniwati has changed all the locks in the JB house.

Ervina Mohamed Jamil, newsroom intern

She can sue if she can find him

IF Madam Harmoniwati can track down her tenant, can she sue although she only made a verbal agreement with him?

Yes, she can, said lawyer Steven Lam.

A verbal agreement will still be a contract if you can prove it, with evidence of a voice recording or a third-party witness, he said.

But it will also depend on how strong the evidence is.

'Should her tenant sublet the house to a sub-tenant, there'll be no contract between her (Madam Harmoniwati) and the sub-tenant, but she can go after her tenant,' said Mr Lam.

He also said that she can sue her tenant either in Malaysia or in Singapore.

He explained: 'It's going to be more complicated if she sues him in Singapore because of the conflicts of laws issue.

'Most likely, she has to sue him in Malaysia because that's where the (verbal) contract was made.'

If the tenant is in Singapore, she may also consider suing him in Singapore, provided part of the contract is performed here, such as the collection of the rental fee.

This article was first published in The New Paper.