Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers yesterday urged landlords nationwide to reduce their rents amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
The global spread of the novel coronavirus has led to an increase in the number of people who are unemployed and has affected disadvantaged groups, the TPP legislative caucus told a news conference in Taipei.
Low-income families were already struggling before the pandemic, it said, adding that rent alone puts an enormous amount of pressure on those families.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Over the past few years, not only have property prices soared, but rent has also gone up “outrageously,” TPP Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said.
Now, in the midst of the crisis, many shop owners have found themselves unable to pay rent, he said, adding that some restaurants have already gone out of business.
Some landlords — including the central and local governments — have begun to lower rent for their tenants, Jang said, citing as examples the Taiwan Railways Administration and Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp, which have vowed to cut rent by at least 25 percent.
Landlords should sympathize with tenants and reduce or delay rent payments, the party said.
Tsuei Ma Ma Foundation for Housing and Community Services CEO Lu Ping-yi (呂秉怡) said that for most tenants, rent is their largest expense, consuming about 30 to 50 percent of their income.
As a result, when problems with their jobs arise, rent becomes a heavy burden, he said.
Lu echoed the party’s call for landlords to lower rent for tenants from a “philanthropic” perspective.
It would not be easy for landlords to find new tenants for their properties under the current situation should existing ones leave because they cannot pay the full rent, he said.
Instead of spending months without rental income, landlords might as well cut rent by 20 to 30 percent, he added.
TPP Legislator Lai Hsiang-ling (賴香伶) said that the government should set up a platform to help tenants struggling to pay rent due to a decrease in or loss of income negotiate rent deferrals with their landlords.
It should also ensure that when it lowers rent for businesses operating on publicly owned real estate, those cuts are extended to the businesses’ subtenants, she added.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
Taiwan on Friday said a New Zealand hamburger restaurant has apologized for a racist remark to a Taiwanese customer after reports that it had first apologized to China sparked outrage in Taiwan. An image posted on Threads by a Taiwanese who ate at Fergburger in Queenstown showed that their receipt dated Sunday last week included the words “Ching Chang,” a racial slur. The Chinese Consulate-General in Christchurch in a statement on Thursday said it had received and accepted an apology from the restaurant over the incident. The comment triggered an online furor among Taiwanese who saw it as an insult to the
RSS