‘Ridiculous!’: Traders at the Taman Suria market were left fuming after the management decided on a rental hike by at least 700% from July 1.
JOHOR BARU: Traders at a wet market here were left fuming after the management decided to hike the rental by at least 700% starting next month.
Calling the move “ridiculous and unreasonable”, Johor Baru Small Business Association president Tey Tian Hwang said the Taman Suria market tenants were shocked when they received the letter dated June 20 from the management.
He claimed that traders were given only seven days to respond or risked losing their spot.
“A 700% hike is too drastic as some of the tenants are currently paying rent that range from RM40 to RM100, depending on the stall location. Their business has not been good since relocating to Taman Suria from the old market in Taman Sri Tebrau in 2015 to make way for new development.
“Back then, more than 100 traders relocated here, but after the Covid-19 pandemic and declining sales, many have wound up their business,” he added.
A stall operator, only known as Tan, said he was worried about losing his lot at the market but at the same time, he was not prepared to pay for such a drastic hike in rent.
He added that they relocated to Taman Suria to allow the developer to upgrade and beautify the old location in Taman Sri Tebrau, but so far, the project has not been progressing.
The letter from the market’s management – a property developer – stated that the rent would increase to RM800 effective July 1.
It also told the tenants to respond within seven days, failing which “it shall be deemed that you are no longer interested in renewing the tenancy and we are at the liberty to rent the same to any interested party”.
The issue was also brought to the attention of Deputy Local Government Development Minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir, who described the increase as burdensome to the tenants.
“I was informed that the tenants’ business has been on the decline since they moved to Taman Suria from Taman Sri Tebrau, with some seeing a drop in sales by at least 50%.
“My special officer Mohammad Salleh Ahmad and representatives from the Stulang assemblyman’s office met with the stall owners to listen to their grouses last Sunday. We will raise the issue with the developer soon,” he said.When contacted, the developer said it would discuss the matter internally before coming to a final decision and declined to comment further on the issue.
