ALL land used for school purposes in Penang will only be charged a nominal quit rent of RM50 per lot beginning this year.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the move followed a state government decision aimed at easing the financial burdens of educational institutions.
He said the policy, approved by the state executive council, applied to school land owned by the Federal Land Commissioner and non-Federal Land Commissioner school land, with the exception of international schools.
“Taking into account the role of schools and the need for a more consistent approach, the state government has agreed to impose a nominal rate of RM50 per title for land used for school purposes,” he said at a press conference at Komtar.
With the decision, 106 school land titles owned by the Federal Land Commissioner and 201 school land titles not owned by the commissioner would be charged RM50 per title.
Chow said that before the 2026 review, school land was assessed using residential building rates, although the state authority had on various occasions approved a nominal RM1 rate following appeals.
On the first comprehensive quit rent review that was performed since 1994, he said the exercise was carried out because the lack of revisions for more than 30 years had led to inconsistencies, particularly involving First Grade land.
“Many First Grade land titles continued to be taxed under their original categories, such as agriculture, despite long-standing changes in actual land use to residential, commercial or industrial purposes.”
He said following the Penang State Gazette dated Sept 11, 2025, a new assessment method was introduced, under which, quit rent for First Grade land was calculated based on current land use, subject to urban or rural classification.
Chow referred to a 10,800sq m First Grade land parcel in South Seberang Perai that previously paid RM33 a year under the agricultural rate.
After the 2026 review, he said it was determined that the land was being used for industrial purposes, resulting in a revised annual quit rent of RM35,101 based on a rate of RM3.25 per square metre.
He said the revised rate reflected the actual quit rent payable for industrial land in Penang and ensured a fairer system for all landowners.
To mitigate the impact of higher assessments, Chow said the state government would provide a 50% quit rent rebate in 2026 for all landowners, subject to minimum payment thresholds and conditions.
He said rebates could not reduce payments below the minimum quit rent, such as the RM50 minimum per lot for rural residential land.
In addition, the quit rent payable in 2026 could not be lower than the amount paid in 2025 after rebates.
“For example, a landowner who paid RM300 in 2025 and is assessed RM350 in 2026 will still pay RM300, rather than RM175 after the rebate,” he said.
Chow said the state executive council had agreed to delegate authority to district land administrators to consider appeals for quit rent reductions of up to RM20,000, to speed up the appeal process.
“Landowners seeking clarification or wishing to submit appeals may contact their respective District and Land Offices,” he said.
Also present was state communications division director Dr Yap Lee Ying.
