“[54] The law on what constitutes a lease, tenancy exempt from registration or a licence is very much trite. Learned authors Teo Keang Sood and Khaw Lake Tee in their acclaimed treatise Land Law in Malaysia Cases and Commentaries (3rd Edition, LexisNexis 2012) (‘Teo and Khaw’) have this to say at p 353:
A lease is an interest in land granted by the lessor, whether he is the owner of the land or not, to a lessee for a certain period. There are three essential characteristics of a lease or a tenancy. First, the lessee or tenant is given the right to exclusive possession of the demised premises during the term of the lease or tenancy. If there is no grant of a right to exclusive possession of the premises, then there is no lease or tenancy. A person who is granted a right to occupy premises but is not given exclusive possession, as where the grantor retains the right to enter the premises at will or if he remains in general control of the premises, may only be a licensee or the holder of a lesser interest but not a lessee or a tenant.
