Renting without employment possible?

You can easily rent a place in Malaysia without having employment because the only thing you need to do to sign a Tenancy Agreement is to provide a copy of your passport. Of course you'll probably need to pay two months security deposit, one months advance rent and half a months utilities deposit up front. Tenancy Agreements are usually for one year or two years, but some landlords accept shorter periods such as six months.

However, more important is how long your visa allows you to remain Malaysia.

Thanks for your info, very useful and helpful. I guess your last point is the only issue then, where my spouse visa had just been issued, and expire in December, it will probably be 1 year by then only. So might just have to wait on.

Another question, if I would like to rent an apartment or SOHO for both my own residential/business purposes, I will expect frequent visitors (3-15 per day) from my business. Do I have to inform the landlord? Thanks.

Depends on the zoning of the property. If you plan to have meetings only then i cant imagine why not. You cant turn a condo unit into a bakery though!!!!