The process of submitting applications to rent a flat in the government’s high-rise residential building for senior citizens on Plot P in Areia Preta district starts today.
In general, permanent local residents aged 65 or over capable of taking care of themselves are eligible to apply for a flat there.
Construction of the rental housing estate for seniors is now scheduled to be completed in January next year. The estate will have a total of 1,815 studio-style units.
The government’s administration regulation (by-law) on the use and management of its rental housing estate for seniors in Areia Preta’s Plot P, which was promulgated in the Official Gazette (BO) in late September, takes effect today.
The estate, the first of its kind in the government’s housing programme, aims to help senior citizens living in low-rise walk-ups improve their living quality.
Eligible seniors can submit their applications online or in person. The online application system (https://www.olderpersonsapart.ias.gov.mo) available in Chinese and Portuguese opens at 9 a.m. today. Those intending to submit their applications online must hold an account of the government’s Macao One Account service.
Successful applicants in the first-phase application process, which covers 759 flats, will be offered a 20-percent discount on their rent, because of which the lowest rent for a flat will be 4,328 patacas per month.
The estate’s operation will be overseen by the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS), which will assess applications to rent a flat there.
A lease will be valid for three years. The three-year lease will be “automatically” renewed upon mutual agreement every time.
Flat size, podium facilities
According to the bureau’s website, the site where the rental housing estate for seniors is located, i.e., an area of Plot P, covers about 6,828 square metres. The estate has a gross floor area of around 125,000 square metres.
The estate has four podium levels from the ground to third floors. The fully furnished and decorated studio flats are located between the 4th and 37th floors, with the 12th floor used as the tower’s refuge floor, according to the website.
Each floor has 55 studio flats, each of which has a gross floor area of 53.21 square metres or a gross net area of 33.17 square metres, according to the website. The building has a total of 10 lifts.
An area of 605 square metres on the ground floor will be used for the operation of four shops, while an area of 3,030 square metres on the first floor will be used for a Chinese restaurant.
An area of around 3,000 square metres on the estate’s second floor will be used for clubhouse facilities such as karaoke rooms, an area for Cantonese opera, a gym, and a reading room.
On the third floor, there will be a 3,000-square-metre outdoor podium garden featuring fitness equipment. In addition, there will be a multi-purpose room as well as an indoor sporting activity area comprising a snooker hall and table tennis tables.
In addition, according to the website, the estate also has a three-storey underground public carpark, providing 345 parking spaces for cars and 134 parking spaces for motorcycles.
8 different rents
The government announced the estate’s rental fees in an executive order published in the Official Gazette three weeks ago, according to which the estate will have eight categories of rental fees.
Each floor is divided into four zones of studio flats, namely Zone A (highest rent), Zone B, Zone C, and Zone D (lowest rent), depending on their view. On each floor, the four zones have 15, 14, 10 and 16 flats respectively.
The government has said that high-floor flats in the tower’s Zone A offer a full sea view.
All flats in each of the four zones between the 4th and 21st floors will have the same rent, while all flats in each of the four zones between the 22nd and 37th floors will also have the same rent. Consequently, the estate’s flats will comprise eight different rental fees.
The monthly rent for flats between the 4th and 21st floors will be 5,410 patacas (Zone D), 5,730 patacas (C), 6,050 patacas (B) and 6,370 patacas (A), while the rent for flats between the 22nd and 37th floors will be 5,670 patacas (Zone D), 6,010 patacas (C), 6,300 patacas (B) and 6,680 patacas (A).
Flats covered by the first-phase application process will comprise Zone A’s all 15 flats, four flats in Zone B, and four flats in Zone D on all floors, because of which the first-phase application covers 759 flats. The tenants of the first 759 flats will be offered a 20-percent discount on their rent during their first three-year lease.
Consequently, with the 20-percent discount the rent will range between 4,328 patacas and 5,344 patacas a month.
Property management fees will be included in the rental fees.
Applications to rent a flat can be filed by a senior, or jointly by two seniors living in the flat together. Individual applicants must be permanent local residents aged 65 or over capable of taking care of themselves.
If two seniors jointly apply to rent a flat, at least one of them must meet the same requirements as an individual applicant, in which case the other must be a permanent or non-permanent local resident aged 60 or over also capable of taking care of himself or herself.
The government’s assessments of the rental flats’ applications will be carried out based on a points-based system, according to which those living in low-rise walk-ups, those living alone, and those having held a local ID card for a longer time than others will get a higher score.
The government has said that successful applicants can expect to move into the flats in the fourth quarter of next year.
This photo taken last month shows the almost-completed rental housing estate for seniors on Plot P in Areia Preta district. – Photo: Tony Wong
