MELAKA, Dec 16 — The government has formed a special committee to ensure that applications for the First House Deposit Financing Scheme or MyDeposit are carried out transparently and only qualified applicants enjoy the incentive.

Urban Wellbeing, Housing and Local Government Deputy Minister Datuk Halimah Mohamed Sadique said the committee would carry out a detailed check on applicants’ qualification for the scheme, with neither room for favouritism nor political affiliation.

“The committee will work with institutions or authorities to ensure that the registered applicants are those who fulfill the requirements.

“The MyDeposit scheme is aimed at helping the middle-income group to buy their first home through private housing projects which are not subsidised. The scheme is open to all Malaysians from the age of 21 and above,” she told reporters after attending the 15th Convocation Ceremony of International College of Yayasan Melaka here today.

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Halimah said the scheme offered 10 per cent financing of the house price or a maximum loan of RM30,000 for applicants with a household income of between RM3,000 and RM15,000 for the purchase of houses costing RM500,000 and below.

She said priority was given to married couples who had yet to own their first homes and incentives would be paid directly to the housing developer involved.

Halimah said the government had also increased the incentive total for the scheme to RM25 million for next year, compared to RM20 million this year.

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She noted that the increase was aimed at ensuring more people qualified for the scheme.

“MyDeposit applications for next year were opened from yesterday (Dec 15) until Feb 15, 2018. The public can register online at https://sprn.kpkt.gov.my.

“Since its opening from April 7, 2016 until October (this year), 6,298 applicants had registered under the scheme,” she said.

Of the overall applications, 230 registered to buy houses costing below RM100,000; 978 for houses between RM101,000 and RM200,000; between RM201,000 and RM300,000 (1,791 applicants); between RM301,000 and RM400,000 (1,772 applicants); between RM401,000 and RM500,000 (1,382 applicants); and, RM501,000 and above (108 applicants).

Halimah said only 1,469 applications had been approved with a payment of more than RM39 million after fulfilling succeeding requirements within a period of 30 days, including funding from a financial institution. — Bernama