Nearly 60 Hong Kong public sector households also own private homes, crackdown on cheats finds
- Housing chief Rosanna Law says tenants exposed after checks carried out on 57,000 people in 25,000 households
- Investigation showed four households declared bankrupt, but were included on list because of outdated records
Nearly 60 Hong Kong public sector households have been found to own private flats in the wake of a get-tough policy designed to crack down on abuse of the system.
Permanent Secretary for Housing Rosanna Law Shuk-pui said the 59 offenders were caught after officials carried out property checks on 57,000 people in 25,000 households in a collaboration with the Land Registry. The new system was introduced last month.
An investigation showed four of the cases had been declared bankrupt, but because of outdated records they were mistakenly included in the list.
The authorities are examining the remaining 55 cases.
Law, also director of housing, said some of them might involve different underlying reasons, such as the need to update property rights because of legal changes.
She emphasised authorities would not make immediate requests for these families to surrender their public housing flats, but reminded tenants that the deadline for the first batch of declarations was at the end of the month.
“In certain discretionary circumstances, such as genuine health issues requiring hospitalisation or legitimate official business trips, we will handle these situations with compassion,” Law said.
“However, deliberate failure to submit declaration forms or intentional concealment will result in the immediate termination of the lease agreement, which is the most severe action we can take.”
