DBKL will buy up defaulters’ units

KUALA Lumpur City Hall will set up a redemption reserve account to buy up public housing units of loan defaulters after the sixth month.

The loans are arranged through the special housing scheme financed by the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).

This scheme will be managed by Syarikat Perumahan Wilayah Persekutuan established under the Federal Territories Foundation.

Federal Territories and Urban Wellbeing Minister Datuk Raja Nong Chik Raja Zainal Abidin said 20% from the sale of all public housing units would be channelled into the account and not be used for other purposes.

“Profit rate charged by EPF is 5.5%. DBKL guarantees on buying back the units from the defaulters to sell it back to the 27,000 other eligible applicants in the waiting list.

“The value of each unit is double the cost so I hope the current tenants would take the opportunity to buy these units.

“I would also like to remind the buyers to be responsible and service their loans or risk having their units taken away,” he said.

Nong Chik said all the current tenants who had been paying rental on time were automatically eligible for this scheme.

“It is a good scheme for the lower-income group with no down payment required and 100% loan with a repayment period up to 25 years.

“I encourage every one to take it up because it might just be the only asset for many.

“The units bought can be rented to local residents or sold after seven years of settling the loan,” he said.

Starting from March, DBKL would be having roadshows to explain to potential buyers on the scheme. So far, there are 44,146 public housing units for sale of which 4,919 have been sold. Another 12,675 have agreed to accept the offer.

Each unit costs between RM21,500 and RM35,000.

Monthly instalments would be between RM200 and RM300 a month.

By The Star