JOHOR BARU: No third parties have been appointed by the Johor government to help those applying for affordable housing, says state housing and local government committee chairman Datuk Mohd Jafni Md Shukor.
He reminded the public not to go through any middleman when applying for Rumah Mampu Milik Johor (RMMJ).
“All applications must be done online through the state Housing Development Corporation’s (PKPJ) website. There are no agents involved in these applications.
“As a precautionary measure, PKPJ has also tightened its procedures by not allowing third parties to apply on behalf of someone else.
“If there is such an application, we will directly call the person involved and ask them directly if they have indeed made an application to buy any RMMJ houses,” he told The Star.
Mohd Jafni said this when contacted following the revelation that 19 people have been duped into housing scams involving RMMJ between May and October last year.
“I was also shocked when the victims came into the PKPJ office to ask about the houses. I did not believe it at first but later found that they have indeed been duped into paying money to ‘agents’ claiming to be able to help them get the houses.
“About five or six of the victims came to the PKPJ office to ask about the application.
“I told them to also lodge a police report and once the police started their investigation, they found out that there were a total of 19 reports filed on the scam last year alone,” he said.
He said desperation for affordable housing was the reason why some turned to these purported agents.
“The main problem is that there is high demand for affordable houses but the supply is low. The victims include those who have tried applying but have yet to get a unit. The scammers preyed on the desperation of the victims to gain profits.
“However, I would like to assure Johoreans that we will make more affordable homes available.
“Last year alone, we managed to build 3,000 RMMJ, which is way above our target of building 2,400 homes that are priced from RM150,000 and below,” he said.
He added the state government had also set the target to build a total of 21,139 units of RMMJ houses in the next five years.
Earlier, Mohd Jafni revealed a total of 19 cases of “rent-to-own” housing scams were reported to PKPJ last year with losses totalling RM122,000.
The police had arrested a 55-year-old man believed to be behind the housing scam.
Johor police chief Comm Datuk Kamarul Zaman Mamat said the man was arrested in October and charged early last month under Section 411 of the Penal Code for dishonestly receiving stolen property.
“According to the victims, the agents claimed that they could get the RMMJ units through a man with a Datuk title.
“They were told to pay a deposit of between RM3,000 and RM10,000 to the man for processing and approvals,” he said in a statement yesterday.
The suspect was charged with three counts of dishonestly receiving stolen property and pleaded not guilty. The next mention of the case had been set for Jan 15.
According to Comm Kamarul Zaman, the man had his agents reach out to their respective contacts about the housing offer.
“The money paid to the agents would later be handed over to the suspect.
“The victims only realised that they had been duped when they did not receive any response on the unit promised.
“When they checked with the state housing agency, they found that their names were not registered for the scheme,” he said.
