Dealing with abandoned properties

TACKLING the problem of abandoned buildings and unoccupied properties is not confined to the Penang Island City Council (MBPP), as local authorities in other parts of the country are in a similar predicament, “Landed properties worth RM500mil left abandoned” (The Star, June 27; online at https://bit.ly/3a1czJl).

Residential and commercial buildings have been left in a dilapidated state for years, the compounds overgrown with thick undergrowth and infested with mosquitoes, snakes and monitor lizards.

Some have been turned into dumpsites and others are the haunts of drug addicts.

The people affected the most by these unhealthy environments are the immediate neighbours, some of whom might have lived with the problem for decades with no solutions in sight despite numerous complaints to the authorities.

The local authorities are unable to get the property owners to clear the mess. In some cases, the owners could be overseas or ownership of the property is in dispute.

The only way to resolve the problem is to amend the Local Government Act. Adequate provisions must be put in place to empower the local authorities to deal with such properties. Local authorities should be able to, for example, publish a notice in one of the local newspapers to call on the owners to restore the said property within a stipulated period.

If there is no response, the local authorities should undertake the disposal of the property by public auction on an “as is where is” basis. Proceeds of the sale can be deposited with the courts. Property owners can claim the money through the normal procedure.

S. SUNDARESON

Petaling Jaya