'Chinese/Malay only': Study of rental listings shows racism in property market

There has been no shortage of anecdotes of racism within the property market, with minority races often complaining that they are discriminated against by property owners who refuse to rent to them on the basis of ethnicity.

However, business intelligence analyst Pingalayen Rabinthra Kumar’s study of a popular property website recently proves that this is not just anecdotal.

Scraping data off popular property listings website iBilik.com, Pingalayen, 24, found close to half of all room rental advertisements online on Oct 19, explicitly stated that owners discriminate against tenants on the basis of ethnicity.

At iBilik, property owners or agents can check boxes stating ‘Malay’, ‘Chinese’, ‘Indian’ or ‘Other’ to state their tenant ethnicity preference. They can also state if they prefer a ‘Muslim-friendly’ tenant.

Analysing the conditions set by the 9,596 listings scraped, he found that 45 percent of the advertisements state ethnic Chinese or Malay tenants are preferred.

Only 19 percent were open to ethnic Indian tenants, while 37 percent do not state a preference.

His analysis also found that rooms in popular locations which do not place ethnic requirements often come with higher rent.

Comparing the asking rent on advertisements for places like Wangsa Maju, SS2 and Setapak, he found rooms open to only Chinese or Malay tenants were on average 21 percent less expensive to rent than those without ethnic preferences.

‘Rejected on the basis of a photograph’

Pingalayen said he decided to run this data analysis after facing similar discrimination when looking for a place to rent in the Klang Valley after moving from Alor Setar.

Once, he said, he was shortlisted for a room by an agent but was rejected after the owner was shown his photograph.

“I was told by the agent the owner was ‘sensitive to this kind of thing’,” he said.

He added that property agents routinely ask for his ethnicity when he writes in to inquire about a room for rent, and often do not reply once he tells them he is Indian.

Having found his experience echoed in data, Pingalayen decided to share his findings on Twitter, particularly in discussing discrimination faced by ethnic Indian tenants.

The post went viral, garnering more than 1,400 retweets and 2,400 likes, with many ethnic Indian Malaysians responding with their experience of being discriminated against, due to their ethnicity while looking for a place to rent.

Even though his data does not explicitly show anti-Indian sentiments - and rather discrimination against all tenants who were not Malay or Chinese, Pingalaye presented his data as such because he wanted to spotlight on the experience of Indians like himself.

“The point of my analysis was just to highlight the experience of Indian tenants with data. This in no way disregards the experiences of other (minority) groups,” he said.

Racial preferences set by tenants too

A few months before Pingalayen shared his findings, DIivek Suppiah’s social media posting of his own experience of discrimination in the property market, too, went viral.

After moving into his new apartment in Grand Subang, the owner forcefully asked him to leave two weeks after his arrival as did not realise he was Indian and that she preferred a Chinese tenant.

“She should have informed the property management company that she preferred Chinese tenants only,” Diivek, 24, said.

“It is very sad that this happened to me, especially because I am also a real estate negotiator,” he said.

Divek said agents face difficulty adhering to such requests by property owners.

He said he has had clients who told him they would only rent their property to ethnic Chinese tenants, and agents do not have a say in this.

At the same time, he has also encountered tenants who have preferences of who they would want to rent from or share a home with.

“Some would say things like ‘I want to stay amongst my own race’,” he said.

‘Circumvent ethnic preference by showing you’re good for rent’

One property owner who spoke to Malaysiakini on condition of anonymity also shared how new tenants requested that he change the carpets in a Shah Alam condominium once they learnt the previous tenants were ethnic Indian.

The new tenants claimed this is because they were not comfortable sitting on the same rugs in the property.

The Sarawakian property owner said he was surprised by this request.

“In Sarawak... we do not have a large Indian population, so I was surprised. I am not exposed to the day-to-day friction that exists in West Malaysia.”

Most real estate agents and owners approached by Malaysiakini declined to comment but some agreed to speak on condition of anonymity to avoid spooking potential clients.

One of them, who has had four years’ experience as a real estate agent in the Klang Valley, said most of her clients will state their racial preferences for tenants privately, even if they do not advertise it in the listings.

She said there are also property owners who discriminate against foreigners, or people from their own ethnicity, believing they are not “modernised” enough.

However, she said ethnicity is not the primary concern. Most important, she said, was the ability to pay rent on time.

“There's always going to be some generalisation about races. But there's a way to work around it because it is not all that matters to the owners,” she said.

Among strategies to overcome the generalisation was to provide referrals from existing or previous landlords or show rental transfer slips to prove they have a history of paying rent on time.

“All these go a long way to help convince the new landlords of their credibility,” she said.

No protection from racial discrimination

To date, there is no law to bar property owners from discriminating against potential tenants on the basis of their ethnicity.

In August, Housing and Local Government minister Zuraida Kamaruddin said the government will table law to regulate matters between tenants and property owners.

The proposed Residential and Tenancy Act, which among others aims to bar “racist” practices, is expected to be tabled next year.

Although the draft has yet to see the light of day, it is already facing resistance from property owners who say it is their right to reject anyone they deem “problematic”.

“The Home Buyers’ Association (HBA) is against racial discrimination but if an owner meets a potential tenant who seems problematic, they should have the right not to let their property,” the HBA said in a statement.

“No landlord would want to be faced with the additional expenses of fixing a badly damaged property as the current deposit of two months’ rent and half month utility deposit are inadequate in most cases.”

Lawyer Rajeswary Girupai said there is no certainty that the bill will protect tenants from racial discrimination or if there will be proper enforcement.

“We lack laws to prevent racism in this country,” she said.

Until such practices are outlawed, analyst Pingalayen hopes his findings could help raise awareness on the issue and that such discriminatory practices are condemned by society.

“Racism tends to be (a topic) neglected and avoided by those who are unaffected,” he said.

“I hope for this ungrounded opinion that Indians are not very good tenants or paymasters to change.

“I hope for the information to spread continuously and for new regulations to be created but I don’t think what I’ve done is enough, perhaps some kind of political will is required.”