The landlords of rental houses alleged to be illegal in Penang want the state government and Penang Island City Council (MBPP) to regulate short term rental services instead of blindly issuing summonses.

Their spokesperson, Amir Farhan, 25, who is a house owner at Birch Regency in George Town, said that the houses that were rented for short terms had been issued summonses by MBPP but there was no law explaining why they were summoned.

In the summonses issued by the council, it was written that the house owners were operating a homestay without licence under the Local Council By-laws, with the fine amounting to RM250.

“We have been receiving summonses and when we went to the council and asked if we could apply for a licence to operate, they told us that no such licence exist. Besides, we are not operating a hotel or a lodging facility, we are just renting our house for a short while to others,” he said in George Town today.

Amir stressed that MBPP should come out with regulations before blindly issuing summonses to house owners who rent their houses for a short term.

The majority of the house owners facing such problems are those who advertised their houses on short term rent on Airbnb, an online booking site for those interested to rent a house at their preferred location.

- Bernama