Whether termination by oral notice to surrender the lease is

enforceable?
A lease under National Land Code 1965 can terminate in four circumstances,
which is i) upon surrender, ii) expiry of term, iii) service of valid notice to quit
and iv) forfeiture.
Expiry of term means a lease automatically terminates upon expiry of the
prescribed period. Under NLC, in section 240 where the registration of such
lease may be cancelled by the registrar under section 313.
Surrender is a way in which the lessee may terminate the lease before the
original termination date is by way of agreeing with the landlord to surrender
the lease. Section 239 (2) NLC stated that surrender of lease or sub lease
can be done by the lessor and lessee executing Form 15C and registering
such form at the land office. In the case of MHM Trend Station Sdn Bhd v
Petronas Dagangan Berhad, it was held that a lessee vacating the premise
without the consent of the lessor does not amount to a surrender.
Service of a valid notice to quit, where the provision of the lease agreement,
either party may have the right to terminate the lease before expiry by
serving a valid Notice To Quit to the other party in accordance with the
manner prescribed in the lease agreement. The NLC does not provide any
provision or Form regarding this matter and reliance based on the lease
agreement. The words used in Notice To Quit must express an unequivocal
and unconditional intention to terminate the lease.
Forfeiture of lease, where the landlord is given the right to terminate the
lease upon the violation of certain terms and conditions of a lease by the
lessee. Violation may include failure to pay rent as agreed, unauthorized subletting or tenancy, unauthorized or unlawful use of premises and damages to
the premises for failure to keep in repair. Section 234(1) NLC stated that
every lease, sub-lease or tenancy exempt from registration, whether granted
before or after the commencement of this Act, shall, subject to any express

provision therein to the contrary, be liable to forfeiture if the lessee, sublessee or tenant for the time being breaches any of the provisions thereof,
express or implied; is adjudicated bankrupt; or being a company, goes into
liquidation. However section 235 NLC stated the lessor must first serve on
the lessee a written notice specifying the breach or violation.
The advise that can be given to Sally is she can terminate the lease via
surrender but before that she need to have consent from Encik Arumugam
and Dato Andy. Furthermore it must done via Form 15C and not by oral
notice.