KUALA LUMPUR (Jan 16): Home buyers in the Klang Valley can now apply for Maybank Islamic Bhd’s new rent-to-own scheme, which was announced and launched last November.

Dubbed "HouzKEY", it is the first such rent-to-own homeownership plan in the country to be fully enabled on a digital platform, with the application and submission of supporting documents in relation to this scheme are required to be made online," said Maybank Islamic in a statement today.

Through www.Maybank2own.com, home buyers can now browse through a range of properties by 12 developers including Eco World Development Group Bhd, S P Setia Bhd, Mah Sing Group Bhd, Sime Darby Property Bhd, Gamuda Land Sdn Bhd, UEM Sunrise Bhd, Selangor Dredging Bhd and Mitraland Group Sdn Bhd.

"It is expected that seven more developers will come on board by the end of this month," said Maybank Islamic.

The scheme only requires three months of rental deposit and customers can immediately move into their dream house. The customers are given the option to purchase the property after renting for at least one year at a pre-agreed price.

"Once an applicant chooses a property on our online portal and applies to rent it under HouzKEY, the bank will provide a decision within 24 hours (of a) working day, following which the customer must make the three-month rental deposit within seven days," said Maybank Islamic.

"After the agreement is signed, the property is locked in at a fixed rental price for five years and the customers can migrate to Maybank mortgage seamlessly after one year of renting, or they can continue renting with 2% step up on the sixth year until their tenure ends," it added.

Maybank Islamic chief executive officer Datuk Mohamed Rafique Merican said the bank will continue to focus on creating more innovative syariah-compliant solutions and developing products and services leveraging on Maybank Group’s strength and expertise in Islamic finance.

“We are constantly looking at introducing products which offer better value proposition to our customers. HouzKEY promotes financial inclusion by offering an alternative path to home ownership. We take pride that it is the first of such product offerings in the market,” he said.

He added that HouzKEY is Maybank’s solution to the current challenge of home ownership and also the bank’s way of supporting Malaysia’s national agenda on home ownership.

Launched on Nov 23, 2017, HouzKEY was initially opened to only Maybank employees. Since then, about 13,000 people have visited the portal, out of whom 2,000 have indicated interest on the products. Close to 70% of them are from the target age group of between 25 and 34 years old, said Maybank Islamic.