Best website for house rental?

The most popular websites for property rentals (and sales) are:

https://www.starproperty.my/https://www.propertyguru.com.my/https://www.iproperty.com.my/

They are pretty much like Zoopla in the UK. In Malaysia agents commonly work together and split the commission. The agent's commission is always paid by the landlord and not the tenant. I've seen houses for rent with pools in Bangsar, Damansara Heights and I think you may be able to find them in Mont Kiara as well as in other places. Ampang also has a lot of older houses with big gardens and pools.

Also

https://www.mudah.my/https://www.propertyhunter.com.myhttps://homes.trovit.my/rent/house

Many will have the same properties under different agents...so best to shop around and compare prices. One can use that as a negotiating tool, as well.

Thanks so much for the replies.  I'll have a look at all those. 
I have read that you don't just offer the asking price.  How much under do you go,  say on a 10,000 RM property?

I wouldn't say that negotiating the rent is the norm since under normal conditions owners would not usually budge much if at all, but these days with Coronovirus pandemic, an oversupply of rental property and a stagnant property market means that property owners might be willing to consider lower offers. Having their property rented out should be preferable to losing months of potential rental income by just waiting.

For a MYR10k asking rent, I would be offering between MYR9 - 9.5k. But there are of course other factors such as if the owner is already offering a lower price than other owners and if you really want the apartment, which in that case it might be correct to just accept his asking rental.

This website properties are advertised by the landlord, which means you pay no deposit to rent.

Speedhome.com

You can download their app from the play store.

Great  I'll check it out

Usnahawk wrote:

This website properties are advertised by the landlord, which means you pay no deposit to rent.

Speedhome.com

You can download their app from the play store.

Are you saying that people can rent a property from the landlord directly from this website and therefore do not need to pay a 2 months security and half month utilities deposit to the landlord? Otherwise, what other type of deposit are you referring to?

From my experience, the deposit that you pay to the agent is only these two deposits which is pretty standard and which is passed on to the landlord. Also, I am not aware of any other type of deposit that you would pay to an agent. The only thing an Agent might ask of a prospective tenant is that he/she sign an agreement stating that they will not go through another agent or directly to the landlord for any property that they introduce. But I have never heard of any deposit that is paid to the Agent other than those security and utility deposits which are held by the landlord until the end of the contract anyway. And remember that the landlord pays the agency commission, not the tenant.

Furthermore, unless you are savvy with Tenancy Agreements, I would recommend being extra cautious when dealing with a landlord directly since they may very well try to ask you to sign an Agreement in their favour without you realizing it. There are so many clauses and conditions in the Agreement that can be made to sound fair but which are not. The advantage of going through an agent is
that they handle everything for the tenant and usually they will use one of their standard tenancy agreements that is probably fair for both sides. Still you need to read it through carefully.

The reason that landlords might want to advertise their properties directly is almost certainly to avoid paying agency fees which does not give the tenant any advantage unless the landlord is offering a lower asking rent which in anycase counters the savings the landlord would make by not paying the agents commission.

Sorry for wedging into this conversation, but I was wondering if you know any websites where a prospective tenant could post an ad with some details of kind of apartment they are looking for and their budget? I've been living in KL for the past 4 years and renting my current apartment from the owner directly. I was trying to find an agent, but for some reason most of them are not willing to negotiate the price, while the market is down and there's oversupply.

I think you may need to find a more serious agent. As you say, the market is a tenants market and there is oversupply, and only greedy agents would want to not help you to reach a price with the landlord. I would keep on searching for a good agent. Perhaps go onto the several property websites and search for property for rent and contact some of the agents who are advertising those properties.

I am a landlord and I am prepared to negotiate my asking rent, and my agent always let's me know of any offers, which I can accept, reject or find a compromise. So, I think you need to find a good agent.

Advertising your requirements might work, I don't know, but you might end up with people offering cheaper apartments but who would be happy to get the rent you are offering. So not sure if that is a good idea.

It would be interesting if you let us know your budget and required location, some of us may know agents in the area you are looking.

Thank you, @Shill88. You are right. Many expats are leaving Malaysia these days, their contracts are not being renewed or extended. It seems like many companies are forced to give their jobs to locals. This is what I'm hearing from my friends (both expats and locals). And expats are usually the ones living in my area.

I'm planning to stay in the KLCC area and I was hoping to get a 1 or 2 bedroom apartment in a relatively new building for no more than RM3000. I'm currently paying 3200 for my 2 bedroom in KLCC (it was also a new one when I just moved in).

If there are any good agents someone knows, please send them my way. Thanks!

Quite a while ago I was interested to buy a one bedroom apartment in Hampshire Place. It was pretty nice but small but it had a separate bedroom and back then it was very stylish. No idea how much the rents are but I guess you can check easily on the property websites. Hampshire Residence is cheaper and I know they also had one bedroom units and the two bedroom units are really nice, again not sure about the rentals. Panorama is just beside it, newer than Hampshire Residence but the layouts are a bit weird.

I'm not so familiar with the condos on the other side of Jalan Ampang beside KLCC Park but I assume most of them are a lot more pricey.