Hong Kong to conduct checks on public housing applicants for mainland property ownership
- Housing director Rosanna Law says measure to crack down on abuse will include closer communication with mainland Chinese counterparts
![Hong Kong repossessed about 2,200 and 2,800 public rental flats in the past two financial years, according the city’s housing director. Photo: Jelly Tse](https://cdn.i-scmp.com/sites/default/files/styles/1020x680/public/d8/images/canvas/2024/07/12/4bf329c8-0412-49f0-aec2-8cbca55c4046_ba314d75.jpg?itok=sn03WV7o&v=1720799008)
Hong Kong authorities are planning to conduct spot checks on public housing applicants to ensure they do not own mainland Chinese properties, according to the city’s housing director, who also warned young people against eyeing rental homes to “lie flat”.
Housing director Rosanna Law Shuk-pui revealed the measure on Friday, part of the government’s ongoing drive to crack down on well-off residents who abused the system.
Law said the administration would communicate with its mainland counterparts to figure out easier ways for the local government to access the property information of public rental housing tenants.
Under the current system, authorities in Hong Kong must file requests with individual departments on the mainland to check whether residents held any assets across the border.
The government stepped up regulations targeting well-off public housing tenants last October after Kwong Kau, 66, the former father-in-law of slain model Abby Choi Tin-fung, was found to have owned a luxury home while buying a subsidised flat.
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