Landlords of Hong Kong’s subdivided flats must renew registration every 5 years

Housing chief Winnie Ho lays out procedures for homes to be turned into ‘regulated new product’, including one- to two-year grace period for fixes

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A subdivided flat in Cheung Sha Wan. New government regulations require such flats to be registered and meet certain basic living criteria. Photo: Eugene Lee

Published: 1:36pm, 22 Oct 2024Updated: 10:21pm, 22 Oct 2024

Landlords of Hong Kong’s subdivided flats will be required to renew their registration every five years as part of wider government efforts to turn the notoriously overcrowded homes into a “regulated new product”, the housing minister has said.

Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho Wing-yin said registration for subdivided flats would start before the end of next year, with landlords only required to provide basic information to be granted a grace period to fix problems.

The grace period, which would last one to two years, could also be extended on a case-by-case basis, she added.

In his policy address last Wednesday, city leader John Lee Ka-chiu laid out plans to phase out poor-quality subdivided flats and allow only registered homes that met certain criteria to remain on the market as “basic housing units”.

The proposed standards include a minimum size of 86 sq ft (eight square metres) and a ceiling height of two metres (6.6 feet), as well as proper windows and at least one toilet for each home. The flats must also fulfil fire and structural safety requirements.

Hong Kong has 110,000 subdivided flats, 30 per cent of which do not meet the proposed standards. The remaining might require minor fixes.