Owners of low-cost houses must stop renting their units to others, including foreigners, if they want to escape the long arm of the law.

Soon, the Penang government will issue legal notices to such owners of low-cost houses who rent out their units to others.

According to state executive councillor for housing Jagdeep Singh Deo, the owners of these units are supposed to live in the units and not rent it out to others.

“According to the application forms, successful applicants must stay in their units for two continuous months. However, many rent out their units to foreigners and sometimes, this causes social problems,” said Jagdeep at a press conference in Komtar today.

“We will give them one month to ask their clients to move out. We will initiate criminal proceedings if they do not comply and defaulters will be charged with breach of contract,” he added.

Jagdeep said the state housing department was prompted to act after receiving complaints over the issue.

He said the department had checked out some units, citing an example where in a low-cost block of flats, 226 units had been rented out to foreigners.

Defaulters, if found guilty, will be charged under section 420 of the Penal Code with cheating, and can be  fined, whipped or jailed between one to 10 years if found guilty.

Jagdeep said the state executive council will meet this Friday and will be asked to endorse the legal notices to be sent out to the defaulting low-cost house owners.

Meanwhile, Jagdeep also expressed concern over foreign workers who will be driven out of homes when the state comes down hard on low-cost home defaulters.

“Where would they go? They are already staying in deplorable conditions,” he said.

Jagdeep said he will push for hostels to be built for foreigners as had been done in Singapore.

“We will look into the proper mechanism to run these hostels. Singapore has allocated 10 acres of land for this purpose, and the hostel grounds have complete social and sports facilities, including good security system as well,” he added.