TENANTS of commercial units beware! If your landlord has not settled outstanding assessment bills, the law allows local governments to confiscate moveable assets kept at the rented premises, regardless of whether the items belong to the tenant or the property owner.  

The matter came to light recently when the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) announced that it would confiscate moveable assets from 150 premises for failing to settle outstanding assessment over the last few years. 

MBSA enforcement personnel loading confisticated items unto their truck.

The irony is that 70% of the targeted premises are rented out. As such, the tenants may soon find themselves in trouble through no fault of their own. 

Under the Local Government Act 1976 (171) Section 148 (1), the local authority reserves the right to recover unpaid assessments by sealing the said premises and seizing moveable assets which would be later auctioned off and the money used to offset the amount owed by the ratepayer. 

Yesterday, Darul Ehsan Restaurant in Section 9, became the first premises to face such a consequence after enforcement officers took away a 129cm television and a chiller from the outlet. The landlord allegedly failed to settle RM86,413 in accumulated assessment charges since 2001. 

The items belonged to the restaurant owner, who was merely renting the premises. MBSA revenue officer Khairul Nizam Zainal Abidin, who led the operation, said the exercise was not to target tenants.  

“But, we have to recover whatever is possible from the particular premises at where assessment arrears have not been paid, despite the numerous notices and warning letters sent.  

We seize movable assets in the hopes of getting the errant landlords to come forward and settle the arrears,'' he said. 

Khairul Nizam said the onus is on tenants to ensure that their landlords settled all outstanding assessment payments to the council. 

The council was unable to seize the movable properties of two more business premises at Section 13 during yesterday's raid. 

One of the landlords immediately issued a cheque for RM4,000 as part payment for the RM21,379 he owed to MBSA while the other property was on receivership. 

Errant property owners still owed the council RM33mil in arrears. MBSA has so far collected RM69.8mil from a total RM102mil.