The federal government plans to legislate a new law to safeguard the rights of tenants and property owners, reported Free Malaysia Today.
Dubbed as the Residential Tenancy Act, the law will also tackle incidents of racial discrimination in the housing market, with landlords rejecting would-be tenants due to their ethnicity.
“This will protect house buyers and renters from discrimination,” said Housing and Local Government Minister Zuraida Kamaruddin, adding that the Residential Tenancy Act will emulate a similar law in Scotland.
The proposed law is expected to be implemented by 2020.
She said this on Monday (28 Jan) when announcing the National Policy on Affordable Housing (DRMM), which intends to help provide housing to poor Malaysians or the bottom 40 percent of income earners in the country.
“For the first time we will have a sub policy aimed at housing for the B40. We hear their complaints over their uncomfortable living conditions. It’s time to help them so that their quality of life is better, and living conditions are more comfortable.”
Moreover, DRMM will lay out standards for building affordable housing projects being undertaken by private developers, as well as the federal and state governments.
Besides imposing a minimum built-up area of 900 sq ft, these low-cost residential properties must be priced at RM300,000 or below.
Furthermore, she announced that the federal government intends to build 100,000 affordable homes per annum, as well as implement the build-then-sell (BTS) concept by 2023.
Image source: The Edge Markets
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