Penang govt collects info on rental increase to reintroduce Rent Control Act

GEORGE TOWN : The Penang state government is currently proceeding to the next stage of reintroducing the Rent Control Act by collecting information on the rental increase in the state.
Town and country planning and housing committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo (pix) said constitutionally, the state can table the enactment without the federal government's approval as it has provided for each state to regulate rentals imposed by landlords.
"Legally it can be done, and we are in the process of gathering input from stakeholders about the alleged increase and how big the increase is", he said after launching the Malaysian Secondary Property Exhibition (Maspex) Penang at Queensbay Mall here.
He said the process is to enable the state to decide whether it is a significant increase and it requires the government to enter the next stage of reintroducing the Act within the heritage site.
"The reintroduction of the Act is only aimed at properties within the core and buffer zone of the George Town World Heritage site.
"Many think the reintroduction of the Act is to increase the price, but it is actually to control the manner of the rental increase", he said.
In July this year, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng mulled reintroducing the Act over concerns of rising rent in the George Town Heritage Zone.
He was reported saying that the reintroduction was to ensure the Unesco recognised site was not adversely affected by gentrification.
The Rent Control Act 1966 was repealed in 1997, allowing for previously low rentals to be increased by house owners.
The Act had previously restricted the increase of rent by owners of buildings that were built before 1948.
Rental rates were as low as RM60 for these houses.
Earlier, Maspex organising chairman Micheal Geh said the secondary property market is still thriving in Malaysia despite the overall outlook of a weakening property market.
He said the number of transactions in the secondary property market is almost five times that of the primary market.
"Out of the 102,096 transactions in the first half of this year, almost 82% were from the secondary market which stands at 83,647 transactions, as compared to 18,499 transactions in the primary market", he said in his welcoming speech.
Organised for the fourth time in Penang, Maspex Penang showcased sub-sale properties in Penang.
This year, over 5000 units of properties will be featured by real estate agents throughout the four-day event from Sept 22 until Sept 25.
A series of talks have also been lined up during the event, where invited speakers will give talks on the Penang sub-sale markets.