I passed by few of the low cost flats in KL area. Indeed, some of them have really expensive cars parked in their compounds. Maybe its time some sort of occupant audit is done to verify if they are eligble for these flats.

Part of the problem is due to relocating squatters or those displaced from plantations. I guess you have to discount these type of occupants. Not sure if the government informed them that they need to pay after being relocated. Or maybe they think since they were displaced, they need not pay any rent in the new place.

MERCEDES Benz, LCD television sets, laptops, computers, air-conditioning, wallpaper, wall-to-wall carpeting, marble tiles, these and more can be found in numerous units of people’s housing schemes (PPR) in Kuala Lumpur.

The low-cost housing schemes are built to re-house squatters and for the urban poor, however about 70% of those living in the units do not fall below the poverty line.

Thousands of residents living in these government housing schemes are living in luxury with some owning cars like Mercedes and Honda Civic.

A check by StarMetro at many of the public low-cost flats in the city revealed that at least 80% have Astro, while many have air-conditioners installed.

In the units at PPR Seri Alam in Sungei Besi, owners had made extensive renovations.

The floors have been re-tiled with marble, the toilet doors were changed to foldable ones, while the kitchen area was upgraded to a dry and wet kitchen.

In another unit the owner had installed air-conditioning for both of the rooms. Both rooms also had computers. Some units had been decorated with wallpaper while there is even a unit which had wall carpets installed.

A resident, who did not want to be named, said he was waiting for the government to offer the units for free.

A tenant renting a shop in the same PPR owed DBKL RM15,000 in rental. The shop has since been shut down with the owners no where in sight.

“I have not paid a single month’s rent since I moved into a PPR 10 years ago,’’ said a tenant from PPR Desa Tun Razak.

A PPR Kg Muhibbah resident, who owed City Hall about RM7,000 in rental, said: “I have not paid for years and they (DBKL) will never kick me out.’’

“DBKL offered me a unit on condition that I pay up all rental owed to them. But why should I? It’s been free all along and why would I want to take a loan and buy it now,’’ he added.

source: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2011/6/14/central/8886425&sec=central

It costs DBKL lots of money obviously!

Residents living in government low-cost housing owe City Hall millions of ringgit in rent. Kuala Lumpur mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail said 70% of these recalcitrant tenants can easily afford to pay yet refuse to do so.

ERRANT tenants living in public low-cost flats owe Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) more than RM57mil and the figure does not include the RM25mil which is written off as bad debt because the local authority is unable to collect rental from those who absconded.

The highest owed by a tenant from PPR Kg Limau is RM35,581 — rent accumulated since the early 1980’s, while another who is renting a shoplot in PPR Desa Tun Razak owes RM36,171.

About 2,000 tenants of Desa Rejang low-cost housing in Setapak owed the highest amount in rental and water arrears of RM4,566,517.

KL mayor Tan Sri Ahmad Fuad Ismail said 70% of those owing rent were recalcitrant tenants who could afford to pay, yet refused to do so.

A total of 52,851 low-cost units are being rented out and 36,995 tenants have rental arrears.

Ahmad Fuad said most of these tenants were squatters relocated from various slum areas in the city into government low-cost flats.

“The government has good intention when they re-housed these people under the zero-squatter policy, but the squatters do not appreciate their new environment where their mindset is used to having everything for free,’’ he said.

Fuad added that Malaysia was the only country in the world where the government provided homes for poor residents at a low rate of between RM90 and RM124 per month.

“You will never get such comfortable units with basic facilities like this in Tokyo or Taiwan,’’

“The government is even selling these flats located at prime areas at only RM35,000 when the units are easily valued between RM80,000 and RM90,000.

“This is the sacrifice our government is making and people still don’t appreciate their blessings,’’ he said.

Fuad also said about 20,000 poor families had been deprived of buying or renting these low-cost units because they were not eligible as the units had been allocated for squatters.

Some families have been on the waiting list since 2004.

DBKL has about 4,000 vacant units which are offered to squatters pending their relocation exercise.

“There are many families who want to buy and rent these units yet we cannot give it to them because they are not squatters.

“The squatters on the other hand refuse to take up the units as they want the government to give them houses.

“In the end, there are no winners yet DBKL is accused for not being sensitive to the needs of the people,’’ he said.

Perhaps the lack of action against errant tenants has proven to be a disincentive.

The situation is made worse by the fact that residents can still have a place to sleep comfortably even when they fail to pay the monthly rental.

The scenario is only getting worse as the figures of unpaid rental is increasing each year.

Last year, the figure of unpaid rental had reached an all-time-high of RM17,326,663.

For the first three months this year, RM6,709,319 in rental is owed to DBKL.

According to figures provided by DBKL, revenue from rental of PPR units last year is RM78.6mil while maintenance cost was a whopping RM158.5mil.

It costs DBKL more money to maintain the units than to rent them out. The rental per unit is RM124 while it costs them RM250 to maintain one unit per month.

Clearly, the city has to find a solution soon to resolve the problem or else it is the taxpayers who will continue to bear the brunt.

source: http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2011/6/14/central/8886166&sec=central