New rules on rental housing enforced today stipulate a maximum fine of NT$500,000 for landlords who overcharge on electricity fees, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday.
Amendments to the Mandatory and Prohibitory Provisions of Standard Form Contract for Housing Rental (住宅租賃定型化契約應記載及不得記載事項) have been approved by the Executive Yuan and take effect today.
The amendments apply to all newly signed rental housing contracts and would not operate retrospectively, but they are applicable to existing leases if the tenant and landlord consent, the ministry said in a news release yesterday.
Photo: CNA
The new rules aim to make electricity fees of rental housing fairer and more reasonable, as well as prevent disputes about electricity fee overcharging, it said.
The new rules would place restrictions on the price of electricity fees, the ministry said.
The electricity fee per kilowatt-hour (kWh) charged by the landlord cannot exceed the average electricity charge per kWh for the period demanded in the electricity bill, if the tenant and landlord agree to determine the fee by actual usage, it said.
If the fee is not determined by actual usage, the electricity fee charged by the landlord cannot exceed the total amount of electricity charged for the period in the electricity bill, the ministry said.
An extra electricity charge on shared facilities would not allowed if the landlord has not applied to the Taiwan Power (Taipower) for dividing the charge among the tenants, it added.
The landlord would also be required to provide the average electricity charge per kWh for the period and the amount of usage for the tenant’s reference, the ministry said, adding that the tenant can seek further information from Taipower.
Landlords that contravene the new rules would be fined NT$30,000 to NT$300,000 for not making corrections, and would receive an increased fine of NT$50,000 to NT$500,000 if they consistently refuse to correct it, it said, adding that the ministry would request occasional inspections by local governments on lease agreements to ensure tenants’ rights and benefits.
TENSIONS: The Chinese aircraft and vessels were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a joint air and sea military exercise, the Ministry of National Defense said A relatively large number of Chinese military aircraft and vessels were detected in Taiwan’s vicinity yesterday morning, apparently en route to a Chinese military exercise in the western Pacific, the Ministry of National Defense (MND) said. In a statement, the ministry said 36 Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) aircraft, including J-16 fighters and nuclear-capable H-6 bombers, crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait or an extension of it, and were detected in the southern and southeastern parts of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) from 5:20am to 9:30am yesterday. They were headed toward the western Pacific to take part in a
Honor guards are to stop performing changing of the guard ceremonies around a statue of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) to avoid “worshiping authoritarianism,” the Ministry of Culture said yesterday. The fate of the bronze statue has long been the subject of fierce and polarizing debate in Taiwan, which has transformed from an autocracy under Chiang into one of Asia’s most vibrant democracies. The changing of the guard each hour at the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in Taipei is a major tourist attraction, but starting from 9am on Monday, the ceremony is to be moved outdoors to Democracy Boulevard, outside the eponymous blue-and-white memorial
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) supports peaceful unification with China, and President William Lai (賴清德) is “a bit naive” for being a “practical worker for Taiwanese independence,” former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) said in an interview published yesterday. Asked about whether the KMT is on the same page as the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) on the issue of Taiwanese independence or unification with China, Ma told the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily that they are not. While the KMT supports peaceful unification and is against unification by force, the DPP opposes unification as such and
CASES SLOWING: Although weekly COVID-19 cases are rising, the growth rate has been falling, from 90 percent to 30 percent, 14 percent and 6 percent, the CDC said COVID-19 hospitalizations last week rose 6 percent to 987, while deaths soared 55 percent to 99, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday, adding that the recent wave of infections would likely peak this week. People aged 65 or older accounted for 79 percent of the hospitalizations and 90 percent of the deaths, the majority of whom have or had underlying health conditions, CDC data showed. The youngest hospitalized case last week was a six-month-old, who was born preterm and was unvaccinated, CDC physician Lin Yung-ching (林詠青) said. The infant had a fever, coughing and a runny nose early this month, but