GUIDE · TENANCY

How to e-stamp a tenancy agreement in Malaysia

WLWilliam Lim27 October 20268 min read

IDEALHUB · GUIDE

Every tenancy agreement in Malaysia needs stamping.

Updated October 2026

6 min checklist inside

KEY POINTS

The short version

Every tenancy agreement in Malaysia must be stamped within 30 days of signing — later, and a penalty applies.

Duty for a one-year tenancy is about RM1 for every RM250 of annual rent, so RM1,800 a month works out to roughly RM87.

An unstamped agreement is still a contract, but it is far weaker evidence if you ever need to enforce it.

What e-stamping is

Stamping is the process of having Lembaga Hasil Dalam Negeri (LHDN) assess and record the duty payable on a dutiable instrument. A tenancy or rental agreement is one of them. E-stamping is simply the same assessment done online instead of at a counter — you upload the signed agreement, the system calculates the duty, you pay, and you receive a stamped certificate with a unique serial number.

The certificate is not a receipt. It is the record that the document has been assessed, and it is what a court looks for when the agreement is produced as evidence.

Why it matters more than landlords think

An unstamped agreement is still a contract — it binds the parties from the moment it is signed. The problem appears later: under the Stamp Act 1949, an unstamped instrument is not admissible as evidence until the duty and any penalty are paid. In practice that means a landlord chasing unpaid rent, or a tenant proving a deposit was agreed, can be stopped at the door of the courtroom until the stamping is sorted out.

The 30-day clock

Stamp within 30 days of signing and you pay duty only. After that, penalties of RM25 or 5% of the duty — whichever is higher — apply, and they keep climbing the longer the document sits unstamped.

How much it costs

Duty is charged on the annual rent, not the monthly figure, and the rate steps up with the length of the tenancy. The examples below use RM1,800 a month, which is RM21,600 a year.

LEASE TERM	STAMP DUTY	ON RM21,600 RENT
1 year or less	RM1 per RM250	RM87
1 to 3 years	RM2 per RM250	RM174
Over 3 years	RM4 per RM250	RM348

Indicative figures. LHDN rounds up to the next RM250 and its assessment is final — always check the amount shown at submission.

What you need before you start

The signed agreement, as a PDF, with every page included.

Full names and identity numbers for landlord and tenant.

The property address, exactly as it appears in the agreement.

Rent, deposit and term stated in figures and in words.

A payment method for the duty — FPX is supported.

An email address that someone will still check in six months.

The five steps

Prepare the signed agreement

Both parties sign the same copy. Scan it at a readable resolution — a photographed page with a shadow across the signatures is the most common reason a submission gets sent back.

Work out the annual rent

Monthly rent times twelve, plus any service or maintenance charge that the agreement treats as rent. Security and utility deposits are not rent and are normally excluded.

Submit through STAMPS or an agent

You can file directly on LHDN's STAMPS portal, or use an e-stamping agent. Agents charge a small handling fee but the duty itself is identical either way.

Pay the duty

Pay the amount the system assesses, not the amount you calculated. If they differ, the assessment wins and the document will not issue until the balance is settled.

Keep the certificate with the agreement

File the stamped certificate alongside the signed agreement, and send a copy to the tenant. If the tenancy is renewed, the renewal is a fresh document and needs its own stamping.

Common mistakes

Backdating the signing dateIt does not save the penalty and it creates a document that contradicts itself.

Using monthly rentDuty is assessed on the annual figure. The error is small, but the resubmission is not.

Leaving the term blankThe rate depends on it. An open-ended term is assessed at the highest band.

Forgetting the renewalA renewed tenancy is a new instrument. The original certificate does not cover it.

FAQs

Is an unstamped agreement invalid?

No. It is a valid contract, but it cannot be used as evidence in court until the duty and any penalty are paid.

Who pays the stamp duty?

By practice the tenant, but it is a commercial term you can agree either way. Put it in writing so nobody argues about it later.

How long does e-stamping take?

Straightforward documents are often assessed the same working day. Allow one to two working days near the end of a month.

William Lim

Writes about tenancy, e-stamping and property operations at IdealHub. Based in Kuala Lumpur.

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