Many old and traditional businesses in Brickfields have been closing shop or moving to more affordable areas, following the Little India upgrade, reported The Star.
The most recent of which was Sri Kota supermarket. Occupying the ground and first floors of the corner lot in Bangunan Tong Nam, along Jalan Travers, the store closed its doors on 31 May following 30 years of operation.
While the store owners declined to give the reason for the closure, Perianan Palani, proprietor of Saravana Store located a few doors from the iconic supermarket, said the move did not surprise him, given the higher rent within the area.
“The rental here has been increasing for these last 10 years, and more so after the rebranding of Little India six years ago,” said Perianan.
He revealed that landlords within the Indian enclave would raise the rent once the tenancy agreement ends, by simply saying “I have someone who is willing to offer more or do you want to match the offer?” – leaving the tenants with not much choice.
In fact, the average going rate for a ground floor unit within the area range from RM40,000 to RM45,000.
The higher rent has forced some tenants to sub-let their units.
“I was paying RM2,500 a month and when the tenancy agreement ended, my landlord raised the rent to RM3,000,” said beauty parlour operator Meera Nair, who sub-let a part of her unit for RM500.
In dismissing speculation that the high rental within the area was due to the Little India relaunch, Datuk Dr V. Shanmuganathan, president of Kuala Lumpur & Selangor Indian Chamber of Commerce & Industry (KLSICCI), said rent for “Indian businesses, whether in Little India Kuala Lumpur or Klang, is high because the tenants themselves are willing to pay the high rent just to secure the shoplot”.
He noted that while the practice of landlords saying that they had another tenant willing to pay more during expiry of tenancy agreement “happens all the time”, the same should not be that way.
“This is a renters market and tenants should work together to keep rent at bay and not allow the landlords to get the upper hand,” said Shanmuganathan.
He added that tenants should “not try to outbid their competitors by counter offering higher rental”.
Among developments around Brickfields are:
1. The Establishment, Brickfields
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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