GEORGE TOWN, June 28 — The owners of stratified properties will now have to pay parcel rent directly to their respective district and land offices, Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said today.
He said the parcel rent, which replaces quit rent for stratified properties, is effective from January this year.
Previously, the quit rent was based on the mother lot each property was built on; it was paid by the respective management corporations (MC) of stratified properties.
“This year is the first year of enforcement, so strata unit owners will be given till the end of this year to pay the parcel rent,” he said.
The parcel rent replaces quit rent for all stratified properties, with rates based on the size of the respective units.
The bill for parcel rent will only be sent out to all parcel owners starting July through their MC.
“A total 224,303 parcels, involving 1,796 stratified housing, will receive the parcel rent bills through their respective MC,” he said.
He said this year, the land and district offices do not have updated addresses of all parcel owners, so they had to distribute the bills through the MC.
“The parcel owners will need to update their addresses with their district and land offices when they pay their parcel rent this year,” he said.
The parcel rent for 2020 will be sent to the updated addresses of the parcel owners from January 2020 onwards.
Chow said since the bills have been sent out late, parcel owners are given until the end of the year to pay the parcel rent.
The deadline to pay the parcel rent and quit rent is May 31 each year, and those who pay after that date will be charged a fine of five per cent on the quit rent.
The total quit rent that was collected for stratified properties was RM28,268 last year, but with the introduction of parcel rent, the total to be collected will be lesser, at RM24,239, with parcel rent not taking into account common areas unlike quit rent previously.
State exco Jagdeep Singh Deo said the arrears for quit rent amounted to RM65 million to date.
“With the introduction of parcel rent, whatever arrears the parcel units owed, they have to settle it, otherwise no transactions can be conducted on those units,” he said.
All parcel owners are advised to update their mailing addresses at their respective land and district offices or online at etanah.penang.gov.my.
