A series of new measures, including regulations preventing landlords from overcharging their tenants and a raised minimum fee for driving schools, are set to take effect tomorrow.
Based on the new standardized lease contract, which was approved by the Consumer Protection Committee in February, a tenant should pay a deposit of no more than two months’ rent.
To prevent landlords from overcharging for electricity, the contract stipulates that the electricity charge be calculated based on the meter readings for each room, and the price of per kilowatt hour must not exceed NT$6.41, which is the price charged to high electricity users in summer.
Damage to houses or facilities should be fixed by landlords, unless caused by the tenant, the contract says.
Tenants should give landlords at least one month’s notice before terminating their lease, and vice versa. Should any party fail to do so, the other party should be given compensation equivalent to one month’s rent, it says.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications would allow driving schools to raise the fee for courses from NT$8,000 to NT$10,000 due to increasing costs.
The cap for the fee remains NT$13,500, the ministry said, adding that driving schools have not adjusted their fees in 12 years.
From tomorrow, Aborigines aged 40 to 60 would qualify for one free hepatitis B and hepatitis C screening.
Previously, those who qualified had to be aged 45 to 53.
New Taipei City residents aged 65 and older will be able to use the points stored in their Elderly Card to board public buses and Taipei’s MRT metropolitan railway system.
Each month, senior residents in New Taipei City receive 480 points their Elderly Cards.
Taoyuan is also launching a trial using technology to reduce the noise created by modified motor vehicles.
Any of noise-producing vehicles would be videotaped if they exceed a certain sound level, the Taoyuan City Government said, adding that the owners of those vehicles would be notified that they must go for an inspection at the motor vehicle office.
Those who do not appear or fail the inspection would be fined NT$1,800 to NT$3,600, it said.
Taiwan is to receive the first batch of Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70 jets from the US late this month, a defense official said yesterday, after a year-long delay due to a logjam in US arms deliveries. Completing the NT$247.2 billion (US$7.69 billion) arms deal for 66 jets would make Taiwan the third nation in the world to receive factory-fresh advanced fighter jets of the same make and model, following Bahrain and Slovakia, the official said on condition of anonymity. F-16 Block 70/72 are newly manufactured F-16 jets built by Lockheed Martin to the standards of the F-16V upgrade package. Republic of China
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