State executive councillor Jagdeep Singh Deo (DAP-Dato Keramat) said this came after a recent landmark court ruling allowing stratified properties to ban homestays and short-term rentals to prevent them being a nuisance to residents.

Jagdeep said management bodies enforcing such house rules to ban short-term rentals could fine a unit owner RM200 under the Strata Management Act.

However, he said, federal legislators must increase the fine so property owners will take the house rules seriously.

“Penang has the third largest number of apartments, condos and stratified properties in the country. These guidelines are needed to protect the well-being and safety of residents,” he said when answering a question from Syerleena Abdul Rashid (DAP-Seri Delima).

“We do not want our neighbours’ homes treated like hotels where people can come and go as they like.

“So, for the time being, the local authorities are advising apartments and condos to come up with their own house rules banning such homestays.”

Teh Lai Heng (DAP-Komtar) urged the authorities to open a Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) office at the new UTC in Komtar.

He said there had been many complaints that the Seberang Jaya SSM office was too far away and had caused inconvenience for entrepreneurs and companies.

He also called for the iconic octopus bridge spanning three main roads near Komtar to be turned into a “rest and relax” area with coffee shops, as mooted by former chief minister Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Air Putih).

This will also prevent vandals and vagrants on the bridge, as well as to make efficient use of space in the city centre.

Teh also called for new by-laws banning people from feeding birds, especially pigeons, as it posed a health risk and worsened the bird-dropping problem in George Town.

He said it had been shown that birds could transmit diseases to humans and cause asthma in some people.

He said Thailand and Singapore had criminalised bird feeding, with fines ranging from RM1,500 to RM3,125 and three-month jail terms.