KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 19 — Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) explained today that owners and operators who are renting out their properties for short-term stays here, such as through Airbnb, need to register by year-end as the local authority is trying to determine the exact number in existence.
DBKL’s licensing and petty traders management department director Anwar Mohd Zain said it plans to regulate such businesses next year, since there is still no law governing them despite the market growing by day.
“So now as a start, we need to get them to register so that we know the size of the industry,” he told Malay Mail.
Anwar pointed out that as of now, even websites advertising such properties have not much information about them, such as their location.
Yesterday, DBKL urged residential property owners or operators who are renting out their properties for short-term stays such as through Airbnb, HomeAway, and iBilik to come forward and register.
In a statement, DBKL also said it is taking the proactive measure of registering and studying the feasibility of the activity in different parts of Kuala Lumpur so that they can rent them out legally in the future.
The registration is mandatory, and action will be taken against those who fail to do so after the deadline expires.
“With the information gathered of the owners and the location of their properties we can look into amending existing laws or draft new by-laws to govern them next year,” he said.
Anwar said DBKL has received numerous complaints from the public -—mainly those in apartments and condominiums — where some units are rented out for the short term.
“The complaints are about cleanliness, parking, facilities usage of common facilities which is posing a nuisance to permanent residents in the building,” he said.
He added complaints at landed properties were mainly about parking.
“If they are registered, we can locate the property owners and take necessary action,” he said.
The registration is free and can be done at the website elesen.dbkl.gov.my.
There is no restriction on the citizenship of the owners, agents or companies that conduct the short-term stays.
