With 60,000 applicants waiting in line to secure affordable accommodation, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) is ramping up its efforts in weeding out tenants who are misusing public housing (PPA) and people’s housing project (PPR) units, reported The Star.
“The government is offering these units to help those from the lower-income group but there are some who do not appreciate this,” said DBKL Socio-Economic Development executive director Datuk Ibrahim Yusoff, adding that the government will no longer compromise with tenants who take the PPA and PPR privilege for granted.
“Surveys have been done on suspected offenders since last year and raids will be conducted every week.”
He noted that there are tenants who exploit the privileges given to them by renting out their units at a significantly higher price – effectively preventing other deserving cases from enjoying the benefits of PPA and PPR.
Notably, beneficiaries of PPA and PPR units are not allowed to rent out their units, especially to foreigners given that they have different culture and way of life.
“Some tenants rent the units for RM120 but sublet them for RM500 to RM600…This is unfair to applicants who have been waiting for up to 15 years for a unit,” said Ibrahim.
“Many of them are deserving cases such as squatters or those who lost their homes in a flood or fire.”
Under the rules, only registered applicants can stay in the PPA and PPR units.
Ibrahim revealed that the rental agreements of tenants found to be violating the rules will be terminated.
Notably, City Hall is set to seize 40 to 50 units every week based on their current investigations.
DBKL surveyed 43,577 units as at end April from 60 PPA and PPR across four zones, with 27 percent still needing further scrutiny.
“Officers need to check whether those staying in the units are the legitimate tenants who applied for the flats,” said Ibrahim.
“So far this year, we have terminated more than 650 rental agreements and unauthorised tenants constitute the biggest offenders, including foreigners…Others offences include abandoned units.”
Meanwhile, a total of 800 unit had been seized by DBKL since 2016, 456 of which were confiscated this year.
Image sourced from The Star
Radin Ghazali, Content Writer at PropertyGuru, edited this story. To contact her about this or other stories email radin@propertyguru.com.my
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