Drastic quit rent hikes after change shock apartment owners

Owners of high-rise units are shocked by the 500% to 800% increase in land tax under the parcel rent system.

OWNERS of high-rises in Selangor are seeing a drastic increase following the conversion of quit rent to parcel rent last year.

Residents living in stratified buildings, either commercial or residential, are seeing an increase of between 500% and 800% from the previous amount

Petaling Jaya resident Peter Foo, 76, has to pay RM292 – compared to RM34.11 previously – for his unit, which is categorised as a commercial development. This is a 756% hike.

Foo has been living in his apartment in Section 14 for 13 years, and finds the sudden increase illogical.

He said he was kept in the dark about the new fees.

“As citizens, we accept that the government should raise rates once in awhile but it should not be this high. If the rates are reasonable, we can accept it,” he said.

Foo said 20% of the people living in his building were retirees and the parcel rent rates, on top of increases in water and electricity bills for commercial lots, would add to the cost of living.

Ninety-year-old Khaw Tee Joo was also affected by the sudden rise in quit rent. He now has to pay RM358 for parcel rent since last year, instead of RM41.86 formerly.

Florence Wong is now paying RM272 a year instead of RM31.78 for her 82sq m unit.

She said she was shocked to see her first parcel rent bill but did not get any answers when she asked her joint management body (JMB) about the sudden increase nor at the Shah Alam Land Office when she made payment.

Khaw is now paying RM358 in parcel rent for his 41.86sq m unit.

She also said the parcel rent bill was not delivered to her home address.

“I received it from my JMB when I paid maintenance fees. My address is on the bill, why was it not sent to me?”

Foo and Wong said they wanted to know how PTGS came up with the figures for their parcel rent bill.

A resident and member of the management corporation of a condominium in Ampang, who requested anonymity, said residents had seen a 566% increase in land tax since the change.

“Previously, we would pay a total of RM800 for the bulk quit rent, which amounted to around RM6 per unit. But now, residents are being billed RM40 per unit.

“Many were confused about the change and there were problems with the payment method as well.

“Some had to go to the land office just to clarify issues as there was no information on their website,” she said.

A JMB member of a condominium in Petaling Jaya, Meng Yew Choong questioned why the parcel rent bills were still being sent to the building management.

“I feel PTGS should send the bill directly to owners as their addresses are already printed on the bill.

“The land office is the one collecting the quit rent, not the JMB. It is not appropriate for PTGS to treat the JMBs as the post office, more so when a JMB is in charge of hundreds of units or even more than a thousand,” he said.

Meng added that the management had to send out more than 900 bills to owners, some of whom do not stay at the condominium.- Star