The government announced yesterday that eligible tenants in the government’s high-rise rental residential building for senior citizens on Plot P in Areia Preta will continue to enjoy a 20-percent discount on their rent for another three years after renewing their first three-year lease which offers them a 20-percent rent discount.
Tenants have gradually moved into their flats in batches since mid-October after the housing estate, the first of its kind in the government’s housing programme, was inaugurated in late September.
The new measure was announced in an executive order published in the Official Gazette (BO) yesterday when the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS), the public entity running the government’s programme on the estate, also issued a statement elaborating the matter.
The order, which takes effect today, was signed by Secretary for Social Affairs and Culture Elsie Ao Ieong U on Thursday last week.
The housing estate’s first-phase application period ran between November 6 and December 31 last year, during which around 1,500 applications were submitted.
The high-rise has a total of 1,815 studio-style units. Its podium levels are now equipped with various facilities such as a clubhouse, a health facility and a restaurant.
Previously, only those who submitted their applications between November 6 and December 31 last year were to enjoy a 20-percent discount on their rent, while the rent discount was to only cover their first three-year lease. Moreover, only the tenants of the first 1,518 flats were to enjoy the discount.
According to the government’s administration regulation (by-law) on the use and management of the housing estate, a lease is valid for three years, which can be renewed for another three years or a shorter length of time.
According to the order published yesterday, those submitting their applications between November 6 last year and December 31 next year will now be offered a 20-percent discount on their rent during their first three-year lease. In addition, according to the order, the tenants will continue to enjoy the 20-percent rent discount for up to three more years after renewing their first three-year lease.
Moreover, the 20-percent rent discount now covers all the flats in the estate, according to yesterday’s order.
Yesterday’s IAS statement noted that thanks to the new measure, tenants in the housing estate will now enjoy a 20-percent discount on their rent for up to six years.
According to the statement, eligible senior citizens can now file an application to rent a flat in the housing estate any time, i.e., its application process is now carried out on a permanent basis.
The statement also reminded that those intending to submit their applications online must be a holder of the government’s Macao One Account.
The statement underlined that the government has decided to enlarge the length and eligibility for the 20-percent rent discount after considering the opinions from various segments of civil society, particularly those from the housing estate’s tenants.
The government’s new measure aims to give the housing estate’s tenants greater care and encourage other eligible senior citizens in need to apply to rent a flat there, the statement said.
With the 20-percent discount, the rents range between 4,328 patacas and 5,344 patacas.
This photo taken during a media tour in late September shows a flat in the Plot P seniors’ rental housing estate. – Photo: Tony Wong
