HIGH rents in the Klang Valley are driving Malaysians to seek out rooms and flats in unfamiliar territory: low-cost flats.

By doing so, they have to put up with sub-par living conditions and facilities, and are also breaking the law. 

Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s (DBKL) regulations prohibit the principal tenant of low-cost public housing from sub-letting their units but many do so despite the threat of eviction as third-party tenants are willing to pay more than double the rent of RM124 a month.

Sub-letting of low-cost flats – an open secret in people’s housing projects (PPR) – is driven by demand because of the high rents in the Klang Valley where it is impossible to rent a flat for less than RM500 a month, those interviewed by The Malaysian Insight said.

Third-party tenants like Mazlin at the Sentul PPR flats in Kuala Lumpur previously rented a three-room flat in Bandar Sunway for RM1,500 a month.

“So, if you pay RM450 a month (here at the PPR), it’s manageable. We’ve lived here for two years and thankfully, haven’t faced any action,” said the housewife who would only give her first name to avoid enforcement.

Mazlin still has to pay for other expenses, such as house repairs, as the landlord did not bother about such matters.

Though her sub-let fee at the Sentul PPR is almost half of the RM1,000 a month her husband earns as a cashier, it is still the cheapest they can find to live in the capital city.

Similarly, 32-year-old Siti who lives at the Pantai Dalam PPR said she pays RM300 a month for her sub-let unit.

It is a squeeze for her and her three children with only one room.

“The lift is broken down and I’ve had to walk up and down the stairs to my unit on the 16th floor when I was pregnant, but what to do?

“Where else can you rent for as cheap as this, close to the middle of the city and close by to the LRT station?”

Waiting for a unit

Mazlin and Siti said they have thought of the consequences if they were caught and had considered paying more for housing.

But both women also feel caught in the system. They applied for their own units from City Hall and are still waiting for their applications to be approved.

“I’ve tried to do this the legal way, by applying to DBKL but am still waiting to get it.

“We plan to have a bigger family. Where we live now, the house is small and we live with fear (of being caught),” Siti said of the 750 sq ft unit.

Mazlin said her application was submitted a year ago but the status is still unknown.

“We would rather not pay rent every month and our family would much rather have our own unit,” she said.

From a principal lessee’s point of view, there is a tidy sum to be made from sub-letting a unit, thanks to steady demand.

Karimah, who is the principal tenant of a unit at the Pantai Dalam PPR, said she received enquiries from 10 people wanting to rent her flat in the last two years.

They were willing to pay RM400 to RM600 a month for the entire unit, or RM200 per month for a room.

“I used to sub-let one room to two people – a single mother with a child – but she could only pay the rent on and off, on and off. She had just started working.

“I did it because I wanted to help her. But after a while when she failed to pay, I had to chase her out,” said Karimah, who also wanted to be known by a single name to avoid enforcement.

The 56-year-old said the downside of sub-letting out a room was the mess her tenant made.

Now, she is more fearful after hearing that DBKL is cracking down on the practice.

24-hour notice

Last year, DBKL took action on 700 cases of sub-letting at its public housing projects.

Its community development and urban wellbeing department director Wan Mohammad Ghazali Nor said a sub-let unit will be seized after 24 hours upon notification. The principal tenant also loses his or her right to the unit.

“We welcome information about sub-let units. We will take action.

“We also do our own checks and conduct census at times, and we have also given the responsibility to the resident heads of every block to conduct monitoring.

“Since they are residents there, they are to provide us information (on third-party tenants).”

Wan Mohammad said the 700 cases last year included units sub-let to foreigners. – February 6, 2018.