Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) has sought to justify the eviction notices recently issued to residents of People’s Housing Programme (PPR) flats in Kuala Lumpur and its denial of their rental extension applications, saying the reasons include high rental and water bill arrears and household incomes exceeding RM4,000 per month.
In a statement today, DBKL said the rental agreements for PPR flats and public housing programmes have an initial validity period of three years, and need to be renewed every two years after that.
It said from January to July this year, it issued 5,307 notices reminding residents to extend their tenancy, with each notice sent six months ahead of the agreements’ expiry dates.
“Of these notices, DBKL received 3,379 applications for rental extensions. A total of 3,031 applications were approved. The remaining 348 were rejected for failing to meet the requirements for rental extension.
“The applications for extensions of this rental period are part of DBKL’s standard procedures and monitoring mechanism to ensure that only renters who meet the rental requirements can continue to reside in PPR and public housing units,” it said.
On Aug 18, Buletin TV3 reported that over 150 residents of PPRs under DBKL were shocked to receive eviction notices, claiming they were not given the opportunity to appeal or discuss the matter.
In a meeting with several NGOs, they pleaded with the government to be allowed to stay, saying they had nowhere else to go.
The residents said the reasons given for their eviction included the expiry of their rental agreements and issues with their nationality.
“Some of them are persons with disabilities and stroke survivors. As such, they plead for DBKL to consider their requests and allow them to reside in the PPRs,” Buletin TV3 reported in a broadcast on YouTube.
It also reported Ismail Shaari, the chairman of a coalition of public housing and PPR residents’ associations in Kuala Lumpur, as urging DBKL to relook the eviction notices and the residents’ appeals.
However, DBKL said the 348 extension applications it had rejected were also due to factors such as the ownership of houses within a 35km radius of the Kuala Lumpur city centre, having non-citizen spouses, and the subletting of units to unauthorised tenants.
“DBKL has issued notices of rental extension failure to these renters, and given them 30 days to vacate their units and return their keys.
“However, renters can still appeal within this period, dependent on DBKL’s discretion.
“DBKL emphasises that this enforcement measure is to ensure that opportunities to reside in public housing or PPR units are given to those who are truly eligible and pay their monthly rent responsibly,” it said.
