The house hunting process is an arduous one. I’ve had prospects who asked me about the renting process in Malaysia. If this is your first time renting a house or you’re looking for a house to rent? This article is for you.

I’ll advice to start searching for the new house about one to two months early. Here are the popular property portals and sites to search for properties in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. For residential use, there are landed terrace houses, townhouses, apartments, condominiums, semi-detacheds, and bungalows. 

Sizes and dimensions

I know some countries measure their properties in square meters. In Malaysia, we measure our properties in square feets. Properties can come in sizes of 300 square feets, 800 square feets, 1600 square feets, and so forth. The sizes are then broken down into dimensions, such as 18×65, 20×70, 23×80, etc. This is usually used to measure the dimensions of the land area of the landed houses.

Furnishings and car parks

In terms of furnishings, houses usually either come:

• unfurnished, 
• partially furnished, or 
• fully furnished

Unfurnished houses usually come with fans, lights, and kitchen countertops only. In some houses, you might even find water heaters and airconds in the house.

If the houses are partially furnished, they’ll usually also have built-in wardrobes, kitchen cabinets, washing machine, and refrigerator. These are in addition to the fans, lights, airconds, and water heaters in the house. You’ll have to move in your own bedroom, living room, and dining room furnitures, and other furnitures.

Fully furnished means that the house is in move-in condition. The living room, dining room, bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom furnitures are already provided in the house, by the landlord. You do not need to buy any more heavy furnitures when moving in.

So, if a house is fully furnished, is the internet included in the rental? In some instances, the modem and router are provided, but the internet service is not included in the rental. You, the tenant, will have to get your own internet connection set up and pay for the internet service on your own. If you’re going to rent a condominium unit, you should check what internet service providers are available. The common service providers there are Unifi, TIME, and Maxis.

As for the provision of car parks in condominiums, usually the unit would come included with at least one car park. If you need additional parking bays, you can try to rent from the condominium management or from another owner in the condominium. Rental of parking bays can be found on the condominium notice boards or online. 

Pet-friendly condominium?

Now, if you’ve pets — what about them? It is advisable to check with the owners if they are okay with having pets in the house. If the property happens to be a condominium unit, you should also check with the management if it is a pet-friendly condo.