GEORGE TOWN: The federal government has been urged to amend existing laws or introduce a bill to stop the rental of low and medium-cost (LMC) homes to foreigners.
Penang housing and local government committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said there were limits to what the state government can do to address the issue.
He was responding to a question by Daniel Gooi (PH-Pengkalan Kota) in the state assembly.
Jagdeep said that under the state government’s rules, those seeking LMC homes must occupy the units. However, once the sales and purchase agreement (SPA) is signed, the purchase of the home becomes a legal process.
“Schedules G and H in the SPA state that when we purchase a home, we can rent it out, meaning we can buy a house as an investment. However, it goes against the purpose behind creating LMC homes,” he said.
He said the state government has proposed recommendations to amend relevant laws, including the Strata Title Act 1985, and introduced new laws to close this loophole.
“Since I became the exco member, there have been four housing ministers. That is the problem with the federal government, they keep changing ministers and they have done nothing about the problem.
“I have raised this problem with the first minister that I met since becoming the exco member. I have recently met the current housing minister, Reezal (Naina) Merican, but I am yet to get a response (from him).”
In the meantime, he said, the state housing board has prepared a notice prohibiting them from renting out their LMC units to foreigners. - FMT
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