One of the most important issues in the context of urban housing concerns with maintenance management. Previous studies have shown that residents' participation in terms of reporting disrepair and monitoring building defects is an important aspect in improving the existing housing conditions and in avoiding deterioration. The objective of this study is to examine the residents' priorities on the competing maintenance demands. A face-to-face survey was conducted on the residents of public housing in Penang; one of the states with significantly developed towns in Malaysia. The respondents were selected using the stratified random sampling. The data were analysed using the descriptive analysis and Pearson product-moment correlation. The results suggest that 'work necessary to maintain the safety and health of residents', 'work necessary to keep property habitable' and 'work necessary to keep buildings operable' as the most important reasons for the requirement for maintenance. The results also show that 'electrical faults', 'sanitary appliance failure' and 'pipes linkage' are the residents' top three maintenance priority preferences. The results imply the need to apply suitable mechanisms for communication and response method in order to maintain safety and keep the property habitable.