Three-month eviction rule looms for public flats

Tenants who are not regularly living in rental public housing flats under the Hong Kong Housing Society for over three months could be kicked out as the second largest public housing provider is launching 10 measures to combat tenancy abuse from Friday for its 30,000 rental units.

The society said yesterday it will tighten measures to combat abuses, which includes halving the definition of non-occupation or not retaining regular and continuous residence from six months to three months.

The society will also bar former tenants and their family members from re-applying for rental housing for five years due to making false declarations or breaching the tenancy agreement.

"The society is also in discussions with the Lands Department to make use of the property search system to proactively check and verify any ownership of domestic property by its tenants," it said.

Furthermore, it will also enhance the "well-off tenants policies," which require tenants exceeding the income cap or owning domestic property to declare their income and assets on a regular basis.

Starting from April 1, the society will extend the coverage of the current policy to all tenants who have to sign new tenancy agreements.

The declaration arrangements will also be revised, with all tenants who have signed tenancy agreements that include the well-off tenants policy clauses required to declare every two years whether he or she and their family members own any property in Hong Kong.

Under the current policy, tenants only have to declare once after living in the rental flats for five years, and another time after they occupied the flat for 10 years, before making a declaration biennially after that.

The society's director in property management Sanford Poon Yuen-fong said: "Public housing is a precious social resources. The Housing Society is committed to ensuring that public housing resources are allocated in a fair and rational manner to those in genuine need."

"After review, measures of two main targets will be implemented by phases in short-, medium- and long-terms. The Housing Society will explore extending the well-off tenants policy to all of its tenants in the long run," he added.