KUALA LUMPUR: Do not break into your own property even if your tenant fails to pay the rent. It could be a trap.

This was the warning given by MCA Public Services and Complaints Department head Datuk Michael Chong to landlords who were thinking of doing this to reclaim their property.

Chong said any move by a landlord to break into the property, even when the tenant failed to pay the rent, was against the law.

He said many landlords had been brought to court by tenants for breaking into their properties and were sued for the loss of their tenants’ assets including cash.

“This could be a trap laid by tenants who are looking for easy cash. They could be conmen,” Chong told a press conference at his office in Wisma MCA here yesterday.

In the past three months, three such claims were made by tenants – all of them Malaysians – against their landlords.

Their claims amounted to a total of RM117,000 in cash and assets.

During the same period, he said he received 12 complaints of tenants who failed to pay a total of RM57,000 in rent.

Lawyer Leong Pak Yiew, who is a member of the department, advised landlords facing this problem to file for a distress order at a court.

“Under this order, landlords will be able to legally seize the premises and the tenant’s rent will be recovered through auctioning all assets found within it,” he said.

However, this process could take up to two months and might be costly in terms of legal and court fees.

KUALA LUMPUR: Standard Chartered Bank Malaysia Bhd has forecast the overnight policy rate (OPR) to gradually increase to 2.75 per cent by mid-2010, said managing director and chief executive officer Osman Morad.

Currently, interest rates stood at two per cent.

“We foresee a gradual rise in interest rates starting from the end of the first quarter this year,” he told reporters after opening its newly-relocated branch at Bandar Puteri in Puchong on Tuesday.

“I think Bank Negara has released their statement to make it very clear that they are concerned about growth and we will probably see a rise in OPR.(Based on) Our own internal forecast, we’ll see a possible two to three increases,” he added.

Meanwhile, Country Consumer Banking Head Tiew Siew Chuen said the bank hoped to upgrade, relocate and renovate 30 to 35 per cent of its premises over the next three years.

She said that it was part of the bank’s efforts to focus on customers’ needs and develop long-term relations with them by offering better banking experience.

Currently, the bank has 33 branches nationwide.

She said Standard Chartered Bank had lots of plans going forward to continuously upgrade its branches across Malaysia. – Bernama