Housing applicants to be allowed to relinquish under-400 sq ft land plots to family instead of govt

President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu has announced the decision to change the rule that requires people who apply for public housing schemes to relinquish land plots that they own that are smaller than 400 square feet in size.

At a press briefing on Monday morning, President Muizzu noted that as per the existing rules, recipients of flats or land under public housing schemes are required to relinquish ownership of land plots smaller than 400 square feet in size to the government.

He announced plans to amend the rules to allow the option of relinquishing such spaces to family members instead of the government.

President Muizzu said this will allow them to relinquish the plots of a spouse, child or sibling.

“We are amending it so that they can relinquish the land to one of these parties, instead of to the government,” he said.

President Muizzu said he made the decision to amend the rules because many have invested on such small land plots, and have taken out small loans to build on it.

“Therefore, the government does not want to take these lands and pass any sort of burden on to the people. We are changing it so the land can be retained within the family,” he said.

President Muizzu said the change in rules will also apply to recipients of land under the former administration’s ‘Binveriya’ scheme.

He said that only government-issued flats will need to be relinquished to the government.

Meanwhile, joint applicants who applied after agreeing to forgo ownership of entire land plots and those who received land based on exchange method will also need to relinquish their land to the government.

President Muizzu said the amendments will be published on the Government Gazette sometime Monday or Tuesday.