In response to recent protests, Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will cut assessment rates for property owners in the city by one to four percent from 2014, Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said today.

Commercial properties will be charged 10 percent, while residential properties will be charged four percent. Previously the applied rates for these owners, who make up the bulk of ratepayers, were 12 and six percent respectively.

However, actual rental assessments which were hiked by as much as 300 percent for some will be kept, pending a review of complaints filed. This means that most property owners will still end up paying more taxes next year.

Tengku Adnan said the tax on luxury and commercial property owners would be increased by 10 and 35 percent respectively, while the increase for low and medium cost property owners will either be at status quo or increased only marginally.

For now, he said DBKL will not change the annual rental value of the property, which was increased for the first time in 21 years. This was intended to bring assessments to parity with market rates.

Tengku Adnan estimated that even with the change, DBKL's assessments of the rent rates were still 10-15 percent below where they should actually be.

“Legally, we have gazetted the hike for now but we can still hear objections and do whatever is necessary,” Tengku Adnan ( left ) told reporters at DBKL headquarters.

Cheating DBKL akin to cheating God

He noted that DBKL was still prepared to further cut the tax rates for property owners from three categories - the disabled, pensioners and those residing in their own properties - if proof was provided.

“We hope people will be responsible... we take it in good faith. As far as DBKL is concerned, you cheat us, you are cheating God!" he said.

Instead of its earlier target of RM400 million, the new tax rates means DBKL may raise some RM200 million more, he said.

The biggest tax rate cut of four percent was for low-cost apartments, while and owners of serviced apartments and vacant land will get a three percent cut.

About 507,000 notices were earlier said to be sent out to property owners, informing of the higher assessment values. From this amount, DBKL has received 153,187 written complaints about the quoted valuation.

DBKL will start to review some of these complaints from January to March, using eight different panels comprising professionals and government officials.

Properties are like women, according to Ku Nan