Hong Kong aims to start clamping down on landlords of subdivided flats from 2028: minister
City leader also defends his administration’s decision to discard poverty line, saying his approach is most straightforward assessment
Hong Kong is expected to start taking enforcement action against landlords of poor-quality subdivided flats who fail to upgrade as early as 2028 following the end of a grace period, the housing minister has said.
Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin shared more details about the road map for improving the living conditions of the city’s poorest residents on Sunday, as Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu dismissed suggestions the government reintroduce the official poverty line to help the administration assess the extent of the problem.
“I welcome any research or tool that can help me identify which groups are at the end of the queue,” he said in a televised interview. “But So far I have not seen any useful poverty line derived from the so-called academic research.”
Under the proposed shake-up, registered landlords will be given one to two years to make the necessary changes to the flats, during which time they can continue to rent them out. Once brought up to the new code, the flats will be designated as “basic housing units”.
Housing minister Ho said the government intended to begin the legislative process for the new standards next year and have the legal changes in place by 2026. There will be a 12 to 18-month registration period, followed by a one to two-year grace period for owners to upgrade their flats.
