Racial woes in home rentals being looked at in new act

 

Housing minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican says the proposed act includes a tribunal to deal with issues faced between landlords and tenants.

KUALA LUMPUR: The proposed Residential Tenancy Act, which will be tabled next year, may include ways to reduce race discrimination in the rental market, the Dewan Rakyat was told.

Housing and local government minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican said he has heard of such discrimination and his ministry will look into the details based on local incidents.

He said the US has the Fair Housing Act 1968 that does not allow any sale or rent according to the owner’s preference.

“In Malaysia, if we speak of discrimination, it is related to personal preferences,” he said, adding that it was strange to have an act that supports this.

“Due to this, we will carry out an in depth study on the matter,” he said.

He was replying to Ong Kian Ming (PH-Bangi), who asked if the act will look into discrimination faced by prospective tenants due to race preferences by house owners.

Ong said there were instances when owners also state they do not want to rent their houses or rooms to foreigners.

Reezal said the real spirit of the act was to balance the rights between owners and tenants to avoid any injustice to the parties.

He said the act included a tribunal to deal with multiple issues faced between both parties.

The ministry, he said, held discussions with stakeholders for feedback and the Cabinet had in principle agreed to table the bill in Parliament in the third quarter of next year.

“The proposed act could cover indiscriminate eviction and raising of rentals,” he said.

The practice of landlords openly advertising their choice of race, besides other preferences, when seeking tenants has been raised by the media over the years with no solution so far. - FMT