Here’s the honest answer nobody likes: in Malaysia there’s no law that decides whether the tenant or the landlord pays for pest control — it comes down to what your tenancy agreement says. Where the agreement is silent, the rule of thumb most people fall back on is simple. The landlord covers pest problems that were there before you moved in or that come from the building itself; the tenant covers problems that start from how the place is being lived in. The catch is that cockroaches and ants sit right on the line between those two — which is exactly where the arguments happen.

The Short Answer

If you only read one line: check your tenancy agreement first, because that document decides it. If pest control is listed as part of maintenance, the landlord arranges it. If the agreement is silent — which most are — fall back on cause and timing. A problem that was there at handover, or one coming from the building, is the owner’s. A problem that grew out of how the unit is being used is the tenant’s.

That sounds tidy on paper. In practice, the most common rental pests — lipas and semut — rarely arrive with a clear label saying whose fault they are. So the rest of this is about how to tell, and how to sort it out fairly.

Why There’s No Simple Rule in Malaysia

Unlike the UK, Australia or Singapore, Malaysia has no dedicated residential tenancy law. As of 2026, the long-discussed Residential Tenancy Act is still in drafting and hasn’t been passed, so renting here is governed by ordinary contract law and whatever you signed. There’s no government rulebook setting out who must repair what, which is why the same pest problem can be the landlord’s in one tenancy and the tenant’s in another.

That puts the weight on the tenancy agreement. Before you sign, it’s worth asking for a line that spells out pest control — who arranges it, who pays, and what happens if an infestation is found early in the tenancy. The Ministry of Housing and Local Government (KPKT), which has been drafting the proposed Act, recommends getting these terms in writing rather than relying on goodwill.

What’s Usually the Landlord’s Job

As a general principle, anything tied to the building or that pre-dates the tenancy lands on the owner:

• Pre-existing infestations — pests that were already there when you moved in. They weren’t caused by you.
• Termites — always the landlord’s. They’re a structural problem that threatens the owner’s asset, and no tenant can reasonably prevent them.
• Building defects — pests entering through cracked drains, gaps in the structure, shared risers or a roof void. That’s maintenance, not housekeeping.
• Maintenance written into the agreement — if the contract promises regular pest control, the landlord has to arrange it.

Rats are usually the landlord’s too, because they get in through building gaps and shared drainage that a tenant has no control over. Our guide to rats in the ceiling covers the kind of entry points that count as a building issue.

What’s Usually the Tenant’s Job

The flip side is anything that grows out of daily living in the unit:

• Infestations from housekeeping — a cockroach or ant problem traced to food waste, an overflowing bin, or dishes left out. That’s day-to-day upkeep.
• Problems you let grow — a small issue you noticed but didn’t report, that became a big one. Sitting on it shifts responsibility your way.
• Damage from misuse — for example, removing a drain trap or door sweep that was keeping pests out.
• General prevention — keeping the place clean enough not to invite pests is reasonably expected of any tenant.

None of this means a tenant has to solve a real infestation alone — only that the cost of one they caused usually sits with them. For the everyday stuff, our guide to getting rid of cockroaches properly covers what you can handle yourself.

The Grey Zone: Who Caused It?

Most disputes are about cockroaches in apartments, and the reason is genuine: in a shared building, a unit can be spotless and still get lipas coming through the riser from a neighbour, or up the shared drain. The tenant blames the building; the landlord blames the housekeeping; both can be partly right. Cockroaches aren’t only a nuisance, either — the Ministry of Health links them to food contamination and asthma triggers, so resolving it properly matters to whoever lives there. This is where a professional inspection earns its keep, because it identifies the actual source rather than the assumed one.

“I rented an apartment beside waste chamber, for 2 years being spraying consistently but to no avail. But this service clear the root problem by give bait to main points around the house so that even the little ones baited.”

— Afiq Zamanhuri, Google review. His unit sat next to the waste chamber — a building issue, not a housekeeping one. Two years of spraying didn’t fix it because the source was never his to fix. Finding the root is what settles these.

If you live in a high-rise, our guide to how cockroaches get into KL apartments explains why one-unit treatment so often fails — useful evidence when the cause is genuinely the building.

How to Settle It Without a Fight

Most of these don’t need to become a standoff. A calm, documented approach settles the large majority:

1. Read the agreement. Check the maintenance and repair clauses first — the answer may already be there.
2. Report early and in writing. A WhatsApp or email with photos and a date creates a record of when the problem appeared. This matters more than anything else.
3. Get the cause identified. A professional inspection that names the source — shared drain, building gap, or housekeeping — usually ends the argument because it shows who’s responsible.
4. Propose a fair split if it’s unclear. When the cause is genuinely mixed, offering to share the cost keeps the relationship intact and gets the problem solved faster than a months-long dispute.

A tenant in Kepong called us about cockroaches that were there from the day she moved in, while the landlord insisted it was her cleaning. On inspection the source was the shared drain line running behind the kitchens of the whole block — nothing to do with her housekeeping. With that in writing, the landlord covered the treatment, and we baited the affected units. Documented early, it was settled in a day.

— Job notes, Nomobug field team

What Pest Control Actually Costs

Knowing the real numbers helps both sides have a sensible conversation instead of guessing. This is general pest control — cockroaches, ants, the usual rental issues — priced separately from termite work.