PETALING JAYA: Residents at two People Housing Programme apartment schemes managed by the Seremban City Council owe more than RM2 million in rent said mayor Datuk Masri Razali.
He said the two apartment schemes are the Pangsapuri Rakyat Seri Perdana Paroi and the Lobak Low Cost Flats.
“Paroi has 208 tenants who owe rental arrears amounting to RM1,122,951. One tenant there owes the highest amount of RM25,000, which was accumulated over the past 14 years.
“Lobak has 96 tenants who owe a total of RM931,207. The highest amount owed by a tenant there is RM30,000, and has been unpaid for over 17 years,” he said at Wisma MBS on Monday.
“The rent is only RM150 per month, so they must make efforts to settle the arrears. If they do not pay up, it will become more difficult for them. We hope to overcome this problem, which is a major issue at these two housing projects,“ he said, adding that the council has implemented various options to facilitate rental payments.
“These include paying at the council’s counters and self-service machines, as well as providing the convenience of online payments and auto-debit transactions.
“Mobile collection counters have also been set up every two weeks at the two locations, as tenants receive their rental bills each month.”
He also said the council issued arrears notices every three months and conducted sessions to address the issue with council members.
“We even engaged in face-to-face interactions with tenants through door-to-door visits and contacted them via their mobile phones.
“Arrears notices are prominently displayed at rental locations for their awareness. For those facing financial challenges, the council offered the option of paying the arrears in instalments to ease their burden.”
He said the council’s Valuation and Property Management Department plans to meet the tenants to obtain feedback and discuss how they can resolve the issue.
The matter was first raised by Lobak assemblyman Chew Seh Yong on Dec 31 last year, when he said 131 residents at the Lobak apartments had defaulted on their rent, totalling over RM1 million.
