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Two days ago an ex colleague of mine sent me a worldofbuzz.com article about a Malaysian couple leaving an ipoh rental room in horrifically dirty condition and skipping out on debt. You can read that article here. I agree with the article which starts off by saying that being a landlord is not easy as you’ll never know if you’re renting to honest and consistent tenants or ones from hell. I don’t want to comment about the particular tenant mentioned in the article as I believe that they probably have their reasons why they would leave the place in a mess and run away owing unpaid rental and other monies but it brings me to this point. 

No doubt, renting out your property to tenants helps you pay for the monthly installment of your rental property. I believe that with the surplus of properties for rent nowadays, the majority of rent monies received can’t give you a positive cashflow after paying off the mortgage of your property (maybe only in certain cases but not in the majority of cases). However, in today’s rental market, being able to cover at least half your monthly installment is considered good enough, and with capital appreciation over 10-20 years, you may be able to recover your losses if you refinance the property or sell it off for a profit. 

If you didn’t know yet, BlueDuck offers a solution for landlords to screen tenants to see what kind of people they are dealing with. Our service ties in to the CTOS system and landlords get to see financial information on the prospective tenants they are considering renting out their units to. You can know what kind of CTOS score this person has, whether they have any special attention account, whether they are blacklisted and more. Because when a tenant wants to sign up for a zero deposit package, they are required to purchase this Tenant Profile first as a first requirement in order to be eligible to rent a property with zero deposit. 

The next question you may ask is, why would I want to rent out my property without collecting any security or utilities deposit? Have I gone mad? Well for one, having the tenant’s security and utilities deposit on hand and getting paid back the same amount by the insurance company that provides the zero deposit coverage is the same thing. You still get back the money in the end. Sometimes, the utilities deposit collected isn’t even enough to cover the unpaid utility bills by a runaway tenant. Let’s say for a RM1500 per month rental, you collected RM750 for the utility bills but when you received the bill, it showed RM1000! You still need to pay another RM250 out of pocket. Personally I have seen a RM4800 TNB bill for one of the rental properties I rented out for a landlord before. The tenant used 3 aircons everyday and didn’t bother to pay the bill for months. The funny thing was TNB didn’t cut the electricity even though the bill raked up till that amount. I guess the tenant was smart enough to make payments in small amounts and negotiated with TNB to not cut the electricity until the bill became so high. 

Taking a security deposit vs renting out with zero deposit

Personally if you ask me, if I would prefer to take a security deposit vs renting out my unit through zero deposit coverage, I’d choose the second option, not just because I’m with BlueDuck but it makes more sense. First of all as a landlord you do not need to pay anything upfront for it to start. The tenant pays for the zero deposit coverage which is valid for a year. With this I am assured that in the event this tenant does run away, I am assured of getting back up to 2 months security deposit owed to me and for utility bills as well as malicious damage to my property if there’s any up to the sum assured of the plan my tenant has bought. For a residential whole unit which is RM450 per month (which provides RM5000 sum assured), the utilities bill coverage is up to RM1,000. If I rent out my property for RM1500 per month, the 2 months security deposit amount would be RM3,000 and the utility bill is covered up to RM1,000. (total RM4,000) With the traditional security deposit collected in cash, I would have collected only RM3750 and through my experience shared about, sometimes this may not even be enough to cover excessive utility bill spending of some tenants. 

On top of that with the same amount of RM3,750 collected as security and utilities deposit, the amount may not even be enough to cover for malicious damage to my property which is very common nowadays. Things like broken furniture, broken electrical appliances like tv or fridge, or even damage to my fixtures like kitchen cabinets or wardrobes in the bedroom done on purpose by the tenant. This might require a few thousand to fix and replace to its original condition so that I can rent out my unit to the next tenant who is interested (should my current tenant run away without paying and messes up my house like the one in the worldofbuzz article)

Is zero deposit rental something new?

Zero deposit renting is not something new. In fact even with BlueDuck there are already over 3,000 tenants renting this way. What does this mean? It means that more and more landlords like yourself are open to this idea and it’s not something novel or experimental anymore. If you do the math you will know for sure that it is definitely something you might want to seriously consider the next time your property is up for rent in the property market. If there is a lot of stigma and uncertainty attached to it, we wouldn’t have over 3,000 tenants renting with zero deposit today would we?

So to have peace of mind when renting out your property, and not have your story in articles like the one shared above, do consider us as a viable solution. Visit us at www.blueduck.my to discover more and get your tenants to start on their zero deposit rental journey today!

We hit an important milestone yesterday with the launch of our latest product, which stemmed from a successful tie-up with an established financial institution in Malaysia, Alliance Bank. Our latest product from this tie-up is called BlueDuck TenancyCash. It is a cash financing product targeted at Landlords, owners of properties which are currently tenanted. We did a simple official launch on Facebook Live on our FB page BlueDuckMY at 8pm on Thursday, 23 June 2022. You can watch it here. 

Basically this is how this new product works. If you are a landlord with an active tenancy, you can use that tenancy to get a loan from Alliance Bank for up to 80% of the amount of your annual tenancy. So for example, you have an apartment and you’re currently renting it out for RM1,500 per month. Per annum the rental you collected from your tenant would be RM18,000. 80% of this amount would be RM14,400. That would be the amount that you can advance from Alliance Bank with TenancyCash. 

What would the repayment be like?

The repayment tenure can either be a 12 or 24-months repayment tenure. The annual interest rate is either 3.99% per annum for a 12 months repayment tenure or 4.99% per annum for a 24 months repayment tenure. This is how the calculation for monthly repayment looks like with the example above. 

RM14,400 loan

3.99% per annum x 12 months

= RM1,247.88 per month

RM14,400 loan

4.99% per annum x 24 months

= RM659.88 per month

Approval for loan application would take as fast as 24-hours if all loan documents are complete and in place. What you need as a landlord to apply for TenancyCash is your identification card (front and back) and a copy of your current stamped tenancy agreement. You can sign up for this facility at https://www.blueduck.my/tenancycashsignup 

Why would I need such a credit facility?

For some landlords, having cash in hand for emergencies especially in uncertain times like these is a real blessing in disguise. You never know when you need it. If you’re not one of those who are lucky enough to be able to withdraw up to RM10,000 from their EPF account 2 or wish to touch your future savings inside the EPF account then this may be your alternative option. 

    Others may need the money for personal, spouse or parents’ medical expenses, children’s education, home renovation, or maybe putting a downpayment for another house or car for investment or maybe to have enough capital to start your own business or invest in one then it is definitely a viable option, considering the interest rates on other cash financing options such as a personal loan can be extremely high in some cases.

Who is TenancyCash for?

To be eligible for TenancyCash you need to be a Malaysian aged between 21 and 60 years old. You need to be a landlord with an active Tenancy (with a signed and stamped tenancy agreement of course) and you need to be either a salaried employee, a business owner or self-employed. 

What is the procedure to apply for BlueDuck TenancyCash

A landlord can go to our website to start the application process without the help of any third party. The website ie https://www.blueduck.my/tenancycashsignup and when you go into the page, you need to key in your name and nric number and attach your NRIC copy (front and back) as well as a scanned copy of your tenancy agreement and key in your referral code/promo code if you have one. 

    There is a processing fee of RM25 to apply for TenancyCash, but because you are reading this article, we would like to share a promocode with you. This promo code will enable you to take RM24 off the processing fee and only pay RM1. It’s RM1TenancyCash. Remember to also share this promocode with your friends and family who would find TenanchCash beneficial to them so that they may apply for it as well. 

    Once you apply for TenancyCash, a bank officer from Alliance Bank will give you a call to do some credit checking and to verify if you are indeed the person who is applying for this credit facility. Once you have been successfully verified and approved, you will be notified about it, either through SMS or email and the financed amount will be credited into your nominated bank account and you can start enjoying the extra cash in hand. 

    However do keep in mind that you should only consider taking up a loan if you really need the money and if you have the ability to service the installments every month until it is fully settled. 

Our Disclaimer

Blue Duck Tech Sdn. Bhd. (hereinafter referred to as BlueDuck) is an independent fintech service provider for the property market. BlueDuck is not a financial services provider and cannot give direct financial advice.

    The content on TenancyCash page (on our website) is provided “as is” for general information purposes only. As a result of collaboration, Blue Duck and Alliance Bank Malaysia Berhad (“Issuer”) will jointly launch and provide a credit facility to the property market, also known as “TenancyCash”. TenancyCash is a form of personal loan and the contract of TenancyCash is between you and the Issuer. As such, by your application for TenancyCash made on the Site, you are bound to the specific terms and conditions governing the credit facility stipulated by the respective Issuer.

    Any content uploaded, submitted and/or posted by users are pre-screened or reviewed by us for its appropriateness, reliability and or compliance with any laws. We make no representation or warranty of any kind, express or implied as to the content uploaded or submitted by users. Regardless, without assuming any obligation to do so, we may at our sole and absolute discretion, with or without notice and without liability delete any content, suspend or delete any account that in our sole judgment violates any Term of Use.

    We believe that there is no other cash financing product such as this in the market and we are the first in Malaysia to offer such an innovative product and it will definitely benefit all landlords in helping them unlock their cash flow to be able to participate in new opportunities that arises as well as have cash in hand to weather uncertainties in their lives. For whatever reason you choose to apply for this loan for we are sure you will find it extremely useful in your time of need. 

Do visit us at https://www.blueduck.my/tenancycash to find out more and to start your application process or visit our website to find out more about the other exciting products we offer such as BlueDuck Zero Deposit where you can rent your next house or business premises with zero security/utilities deposit. 

by David Geh

To rent or to buy?

Nowadays it’s trendy to buy a house especially when the entry cost is very minimal and affordable. With only a RM500 or even RM1,000 booking you can book a property in a new development and the rest of the acquisition cost is either discounted by the developer or covered by the mortgage loan you take out on the property.

So if it’s a RM450,000 property, you get a RM45,000 rebate from the developer and the balance RM405k you can take a loan from the bank with up to 35 years repayment tenure. With the current interest rate as of June 2022, you are looking at RM1,700 to about 2,000 per month for a 35 years loan depending on the bank you choose to go with.

Fees to consider when buying a house

Besides that there are maintenance fees to consider. You probably wouldn’t have to worry about this if you were renting a place as usually the landlord is responsible for covering this cost. Nowadays with newer projects, maintenance fees usually won’t be below RM0.35 per square feet. For higher end properties, it can go up to as high as 70 or 80 cents per square feet but on average, those that I’ve seen are between 35 to 50 cents and this is inclusive of the sinking fund.. So at 0.35 per square feet, for a 850 square feet condo you are looking at about RM297.50 per month for maintenance fees for a strata title property. This may not be the case for landed properties but in landed properties you are probably looking to fork out roughly about RM150-300 per month for security fees if it’s a gated and guarded community. Monthly charges could be higher if there are clubhouse facilities and you would like to utilize it.

Then there are quit rent (cukai tanah) or cukai petak for strata title properties you need to consider. Besides that you also need to pay assessment rates or cukai taksiran by the loan council in the area you are living in. Assessment Rates (Cukai Pintu or Cukai Taksiran or kadaran or revaluation list termed by local government itself) is chargeable by the Majlis/Local Government onto any holding under their jurisdiction as per the National Land Code 1966 and Local Government Act 1976 (Act 171). According to an article in propmalaysia.com, legally, the local government or authorities are empowered to impose a new rate (revaluation list) within 5 years, however many of them are not implemented due to manpower shortage or other reasons. According to the same article, some local councils have not updated their evaluation lists for some time, in some cases more than 20 years. 

Quit rent and assessment rates are not payable every month, for example quit rent is payable yearly while assessment rates are collected half yearly. If looking at the frequency of collection, it may not be a lot, but it adds to the cost of ownership of a property in the long run. For example, the place I am staying, my assessment rates by Majlis Perbandaran Ampang Jaya (MPAJ) is RM429 per annum, it is not much as compared to some more expensive properties or even landed properties but it does add to the cost of ownership of my property as compared to if I were renting. 

Landlord’s Obligation to cover all other costs

When you rent you pay a flat rent to the landlord which in turn has an obligation to cover all other costs such as maintenance fees, assessment rates and quit rent. In many cases it can be seen as the landlord subsidizing the property you are renting in. Why? You see, for example a RM450k new condo which the owner has to pay a RM2,000 per month mortgage on, usually does not rent out for RM2,000 per month due to the competition from other properties for rent in that area as well as due to the high number of properties in that project. So if there are 1,200 units in the condo unit, and 30% of the properties are for rent, there are some 360 units for rent. As tenants you would be spoilt for choice and if one or two partially furnished units are offered for rent at RM2,000 and another 20 partially units is up for rent for RM1,200 and some fully furnished units are offered from RM1,500-1,800, naturally the RM2,000 per month unit won’t be getting any phone calls for viewings. 

So the owner has to lower down their expectations and follow the market rate and rent out their unit at RM1,200 or even lower to attract prospective tenants. When this happens it’s a race to the bottom, especially in newly completed high rise projects because if landlords don’t do so, then they would have to wait longer to get their units rented out in which they would have to continue paying their monthly mortgage payments with nobody inside staying or renting. Besides that they also need to pay the monthly maintenance fees while the unit is left vacant as well. 

With the example above, for a 450k property, the landlord pays a RM2,000 per month mortgage payment and roughly RM300 per month maintenance fees. The total amount they have to fork out monthly is about RM2,300. However, say they successfully find a tenant, either by themselves or through a property agent and they successfully rent it out at RM1,300 per month, the owner effectively needs to topup RM1,000 per month for the tenant to stay in their property. But this is far better than if they had to pay RM2,300 per month and leave it vacant. 

Asking for higher rental prices

As a landlord you can of course ask for higher rental prices, that is if you invest some money, around RM30-50k to get the place renovated, put in some furniture and niceties such as airconds, large screen tv, fridge, washer and dryer, wifi etc to bring it up to a fully furnished unit so as to command a higher asking rental. But that cost that you put in needs to be factored into the monthly cost of acquisition as well, albeit it may be amortized into a longer tenure as you do not have to renovate or buy furniture for your unit every year, only when it’s broken or is worn out. So your 30k investment, you can probably spread it out to 10 years, so if you calculate monthly it’s between RM250 to 420 per month to add on top of your monthly installment and maintenance fees payment. 

But the advantage of this is, after 10 years, property prices (not always but most will) will probably double up. So a RM450k property in 10 years may be worth RM800k. The equity on the property (the difference between what you owe the bank and the current value of your property, if you choose to sell it or refinance will most definitely cover back the amount you topped up renting it out (RM1,000 or so) as well as the amount you forked out to renovate and furnish the unit. 

Back to the RM450k condo example, you had taken out RM405k on it, and paid the mortgage monthly diligently for 10 years (120 months), the balance if you choose to pay if off after 10 years according to a financial calculator app is roughly RM377k, now if your property is worth RM800k, you get back about RM423k gross. Not bad for a 10 year property investment. If your unit was rented out at 1,300 per month for 10 years and you had to fork out an extra 1k per month to service your mortgage, in 10 years you would had paid 120k. RM423-120k still gives you back RM303k in equity. Bear in mind, you are able to increase the rent every year according to the current market rate so a RM1,300 per month rent may not be RM1,300 per month after 5 years. 

Renting doesn’t give you that kind of equity because the rent you pay to the landlord is in exchange for the comfort of having a roof over your head. It’s like buying term insurance over investment linked life insurance or endowment. The benefit you get out of it in the end is the enjoyment of the product (which in this case you get to stay in a nice property). Paying RM1,000 per month in rent for 10 years.

The advantages of renting

However renting does give you the flexibility of moving out and renting other places as and when you please. So if you had rented a place for 2-3 years and you feel bored staying there or you got yourself a new job somewhere else and you want to move nearer to your workplace, you can simply give the landlord ample notice and move out when the tenancy has ended and very quickly you are in a new rented property. If you bought a property you probably have to continue living in it and commute to work everyday even though you now work far away. This is of course not the case if you are working outstation. 

The other benefit of renting is of course not having to make additional payments for maintenance fees, assessment rates and quit rent which you have to if you were a house owner. 

There is no right or wrong in renting vs owning your own home. Do what suits you and your budget the best. Those who rent reap the benefits of renting while those who own reaps the benefits of owning. At the end of the day it is a matter of what we are able to afford and what our life goals are when it comes to having a roof over our heads. We hope this article helped out see the differences in costs involved between renting and owning. 

If you want to find out more about renting a house or room with zero deposit, now you can with BlueDuck Zero Deposit. Do find out more on www.blueduck.my We look forward to serving you as our customer real soon!

Hello readers, announcing this strategic partnership means so much to us. BlueDuck and Nextsix now teams the market strength to ease tenant’s move-in through a GPS app – allowing tenant to get profile screened and zero deposit packages directly from Nextsix app.

Our shared vision partnerships are to bring the modern way of renting solution closer to the tenant who are looking for a home to rent and without having the need to pay a hefty deposit before move-in. A tenant can now GPS their future homes via Nextsix app.

Download here: https://signup.nextsix.com/ ; Exclusive promocode: NextsixBDZero to get tenant profile @ RM1!

“GPS your home, you deserve a better deal.”

Nextsix - #GPSYourAgent

Nextsix, with over 40,000 available properties listed, and over 6,000 active users on its platform, is a proptech platform company that is first to pioneer a GPS-driven search technology that links homebuyers and tenants directly to professional agents through the function #GPSYourAgents.

“We’re excited for this collaboration, integrating easy access to BlueDuck’s Zero Deposit solutions through Nextsix. This will provide added value to our users with interest in rental properties. With BD’s freedom from deposit products, tenants are able to move-in at lower initial cost, it’s definitely an appealing option. BlueDuck’s innovation in the property rental scene are benefitting both landlords and tenants, we believe there are more values to be discovered by our users through this initiative”” – Wei Kwang, Director of Nextsix.

Download here: https://signup.nextsix.com/ ; Exclusive promocode: NextsixBDZero to get tenant profile @ RM1!

BlueDuck - Say Bye Bye to Rental Deposit

BlueDuck has established an end-to-end fintech solution for the stakeholders in the real estate from tenants, landlords, developers, room operators, property managers and property agents and property agency.

Our innovative solutions came from co-creating insurance packages to ease move-ins to help individuals and businesses in savings deposits upfront. Transforming the way security deposit is collected. Landlord can now speed up the rental process and unstuck from looking for “the one” tenant with our tenant profile and payment gateway in place.

To know more about BlueDuck Zero Deposit for residential & commercial properties: bit.ly/BDbrochure 

Every partnership is unique. This partnership with Nextsix is in-sync with where the proptech industry in Malaysia is growing tremendously. We are so excited and proud to be able to work together with such a great team - Nextsix in bringing this solution closer to the tenants. 

Not to disrupt, but to elevate the whole customer experience and helping the sector to survive and sustain by leveraging various technology. So, welcome to the rise of proptech in Malaysia.

Download the app today for free! psst, I heard that Nextsix is now rewarding users Grab Credits! Don't miss out the chance. Download here: https://signup.nextsix.com/ ; Exclusive promocode in conjunction of the launch: NextsixBDZero to get tenant profile @ RM1!

Till then!

Cassandra.

Best time of the year, every day every month!

Hello quackies, did you know we had a major celebration for getting the 1^st place of the 1337 ventures X BNM's | Alpha startups X MyFintechWeek 2022 back in February?

Very proud and we’re celebrating all the small wins that we have and again, this couldn’t be done without teamwork and to those who said YES on this journey with us. Watch our celebration video here: https://youtu.be/-AiuFOs6SD4

It was a rapid growth for our company and we are motivated by it. We have grown from building an in-house tenancy system -> insurance -> payment services -> eKYC -> financing (YESS!)

BlueDuck - Fintech in Real Estate

From the start, we manage to officially kick-off our business by having the our famous, and fabulous product on Zero Deposit that aims to unlock cashflow (which is our mission). We had it covered for residential properties from unit to room then to commercial units for shoplots and offices rental range between RM1,000 to RM12,000.

Followed with our payment services – BD Pay, a FPX auto debit recurring system on rental collection, then eKYC on tenant’s profile to increase transparency during rental transaction.

It’s been our best interest to always, provide value-added services to our stakeholders and YES we’re now offering financing services to landlords!

You heard it right – for landlords!

TenancyCash - Cashflow for Landlord

While we were searching for ways to unlock cashflow, we realize that financing is one of the best options. People apply for financing for many reasons. It could be for home remodeling, subsidizing for wedding costs, medical, emergency funds or even for traveling! But is there a financing option cater for landlord? Now you have it 😊

3 Main Reasons to say YES to TenancyCash

• No collateral/guarantor is needed
• Loan up to 80% from your active tenancy
• Interest is as low as 3.99% p.a.!

If you are a landlord, and having an ongoing tenancy. I mean, hey yeah, it's for you! 

We were so excited to bring this to the table the past months and today, finally the day we've finalized and it will be officially launched in June! 

So excited!

Quack.

Cassandra,

Chief Revenue, BlueDuck Malaysia.

Did you know that as a landlord, if your property is insured with our BlueDuck’s Zero Deposit insurance in partnership with Liberty Insurance Malaysia, you can actually have total control over the details of your tenancy?

When you register as a landlord in our website blueduck.my, you will be provided with a landlord portal where you can see the details of your property. In the main page, under ‘My Properties’ it includes the property address, the agent managing your rental property (if you have appointed one to do so on your behalf), the name of the owner of the property (obviously it’s you…), the tenant’s name if your property is currently rented out, if it’s currency vacant then the name of the tenant will not be visible, it’s tenancy status, whether it is available for rent, or currently being rented out and if it’s rented out then the tenancy period (for example 31 May 2021 until 30 May 2022. It also shows the date of the last payment made.

If a tenant opts to use our BlueDuck’s Zero Deposit, they are required to use our BDPay service, which is a recurring direct debit service using FPX where tenants can opt to pay their rental to you through their bank savings or current account or their credit or debit cards. They will be prompted to set a recurring date every month, usually on the first of the month where the rental amount is deducted from their savings/current account or their credit/debit card direct into your account. The service fees for such a convenient and hassle free service is only 1% per month. That means, if the rental amount is RM1000 per month, after the service fees deduction you will receive RM990. 

Another benefit of this direct debit service is, all payment records are kept on our system, and in the event of a payment default or runaway tenant scenario, these rental payment records are then sent to the insurance provider, accompanied by a police report to file for claims up to the amount of the sum assured. 

In the landlord portal's main page, if you click on any one of the properties you have keyed in, there are several options for you to choose. First there is the ‘View’ button where, when you click into it, you will see further details about the property listing, such as photographs, which you or your agent had uploaded earlier into the system, the type of property and its address, as well as the rental amount. It also details the amenities and facilities. Down below there is also a location map. You can use the url of this property listing to send to agents or interested tenants and they have an option to leave their contact details such as name, email and phone number as well as viewing and estimated move in date so that you or your appointed agent can arrange for a viewing or prepare for the tenancy. 

Another button allows you to view the payment history of the tenant via direct debit, such as the payment date, payment amount, status, type and action. The status is either ‘transferred’ or ‘received’ for successful transfers. In ‘Action’ you are able to download the transfer receipt to save into your pc. If the property is currently vacant, there is an option to re rent it (yellow button). 

There is also a button for you to download the tenancy agreement to view or save into your pc. You can also add and view utility bills, the purpose to add utility bills is to both have a copy for recording purposes as well as have it handy to claim for unpaid utility bills in the case of a runaway tenant as the zero deposit for residential (whole unit) provides for this. The limit for unpaid utility bills depends on the plan chosen, ranging from RM1,000 to RM2,500 between the lowest and the highest plan.

The benefit of having this landlord’s portal is so that you have full control over the property and tenancy details of all your properties which are protected under BlueDuck’s Zero Deposit. 

Why not give it a try? If you have properties to rent out and would like to consider BlueDuck’s Zero Deposit as an option, do browse our website https://www.blueduck.my/ and click on I am… it will pull down 2 options, tenant or landlord. Click on the yellow ‘Join Us Now!’ button in yellow or scroll down further to ‘Sign Up As Landlord Now’ button in blue and you will be taken to a sign-up page to fill up your full name, email address, password and contact number then click on Sign-Up. Alternatively you can opt to sign up via your Google account. 

You will then receive an email from our team. In the email we will require you to send us your IC number as a last step verification process for us to approve your landlord’s account with us. Do reply that email with your full name and ic number to start using your BlueDuck Landlord Portal. We are excited  to have you onboard on your Zero Deposit journey with us and we are looking forward to welcoming you as part of the thousands of BlueDuck Zero Deposit landlords family. 

Do get in touch with us via email at hello@blueduck.my for any enquiries or feedback you may have regarding setting up your landlord’s account or on Zero Deposit in general. We are always here to support you.