BY JAROD LIM

DBKL officers breaking open a padlocked unit suspected of harbouring an illegal tenant. — Photos: MUHAMAD SHAHRIL/The Star

KUALA Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will be going all out against owners and tenants at its low-cost housing schemes who misuse their units.

The local authority had conducted a spade of operations to check on these government properties and issued notices to offenders at the start of the year.

But the operations will start in earnest after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations.

DBKL executive director (Socio-Economic Development) Datuk Mohd Sauffi Muhamad said the operations were conducted after rigorous monitoring and information-gathering at the PPR flats.

“In the earlier operations, DBKL was checking PPR schemes one at a time but after Hari Raya, we will carry out joint operations with other government agencies to weed out illegals,” he said.

Up to May 25, a total of 225 PPR units in Kuala Lumpur were seized while DBKL had issued 582 notices to the original tenants of the units.

Out of the 225 seized units, 185 were found abandoned, 32 with illegal tenants while eight other units were found occupied by foreigners.

Mohd Sauffi (in green) inspecting an abandoned unit during a recent raid.

During the raids, some tenants were caught off-guard when DBKL officers arrived and they scrambled for identification papers and other documents to prove that they were the legitimate tenants.

Foreigners who were found staying in the units were detained on the spot while occupants who were Malaysians but without tenancy documents were served notices to move out.

During the raid at PPR Desa Rejang, three abandoned units were seized as the tenants did not respond to DBKL’s notices.

After breaking the door locks with metal cutters, broken furniture and rubbish were seen scattered inside the abandoned units.

Mohd Sauffi urged residents to inform DBKL if they found nearby units rented out to foreigners or being used for suspicious activities.

“We are taking this matter seriously and we hope that we can identify the units that are being misused.

“We are also concerned about public safety where these abandoned units may be turned into a drug den,” he said.

He revealed that there were tenants who owed about RM6,000 in rental fees, which was equivalent to 55 months.

“There will be no more compromising after Hari Raya, and we will go full force to address the matter,” he said.

He pointed out that there were about 63,000 applicants on the waiting list for PPR units.