The Transport and Housing Bureau plans to implement subdivided rent control measures, which can be implemented as early as the end of this year or early next year.
The Hong Kong Institute of Public Opinion today (23rd) released the "We Hong Kong People" advocacy project related to the sub-house rent control survey and a small policy forum.
The government opposes setting the upper limit of the "starting rent" on the grounds that there is no objective and easy-to-implement mechanism to determine the upper limit of the "starting rent". The survey shows that 38% of the respondents oppose this view.
As for the government not to take the initiative to inspect and prosecute the owners of subdivided houses that violate the regulations, but to report to the tenants and then enforce the law, 43% of the interviewees objected.
Regarding the implementation time of the regulations, 47% of the interviewees supported changing the regulations to be implemented immediately after gazettement.
The whole Hong Kong pays attention to the subdivided housing platform and the grassroots housing joint, urges the government to face up to the issue of the "initial rent" ceiling, and recommends that the government set up a dedicated department to proactively inspect and prosecute substandard tenants, and publish the gazette Implement the regulations as soon as possible and shorten the "window period" for the implementation of the regulations.
Deng Baoshan, the convenor of the Hong Kong Concerned Subdivided Housing Platform, said that he did not understand why the government claimed that it lacked data and failed to set a ceiling for the "starting rent."
(Hong Kong Institute of Public Opinion Facebook)
Group refers to the existing rent data in 2018 statistics
Regarding the government’s failure to set a ceiling for the "starting rent" on the grounds of insufficient data, Tang Baoshan, the convener of the Hong Kong Sub-Flat Housing Platform, said bluntly that the government's response was "ridiculous."
He said that the "subdivided housing" rent control research team has been conducting research on this for a year, and questioned why the research team did not use this year to collect data.
Deng Baoshan also pointed out that the research team has long entrusted the "Policy 21" to conduct an investigation, and has also announced the results of the investigation, including rent data, area data, and facility data.
At the same time, Deng Baoshan also mentioned that the Census and Statistics Department has conducted research on subdivided housing, using the census data as a blueprint. In the 2018 statistics, data on subdivided housing facilities, rents, distribution and area have been studied, so I don’t understand. Why does the government claim that it lacks data and fails to set a ceiling for the "starting rent".
Deng Baoshan believes that this reflects the fact that when the government first established the research working group, it did not define what to do. It pointed out that its platform had already proposed that the research working group should not only discuss whether there should be rent control, but should discuss how to implement renting. Control refers to the fact that the government "recognized afterwards", so the "initial rent" was not included in the study at the beginning.
Tang Baoshan suggested in this regard that the government can use the Rateable Value of the Rating and Valuation Department as a method of determining the "starting rent".
Zhong Huixian, a joint member of the community housing unit, agreed and pointed out that the establishment of the initial rent is not as difficult as the bureau said. He believes that if the ordinance does not aim at the establishment of a "starting rent", it will be difficult to protect the tenants of subdivided housing and make them suffer. Expensive rent" in exchange for poor living conditions.
It is recommended to set up a dedicated department to handle prosecutions and inspections proactively
According to the survey, 43% of the interviewees expressed their opposition to the government not taking the initiative to inspect and prosecute the owners of subdivided houses in violation of regulations, but to report to the tenants and then enforce the law.
Both front-line social workers Gan Wenle and Zhong Huixian, directors of the community organization of the subdivided housing platform in Hong Kong, said that when visiting subdivided housing tenants, they asked about how to deal with rent disputes. They said that most of the time they would not report the violations of the property owners. One is because the complaint procedures are complicated, and the other is that they are afraid of affecting the relationship between the owners and the consequences after reporting. Therefore, the tenants will be dumb and move out of the unit, so that the tenancy dispute cannot be resolved in the end.
Therefore, Gan Wenle believes that the regulations are very passive and fail to protect the right of use by tenants to report.
Zhong Huixian hopes that the government can set up a dedicated department to deal with it, take the initiative to prosecute and provide arbitration services to ensure that the landlord and tenants have a fair opportunity to deal with rental disputes.
Gan Wenle also proposed that the government should set up an independent department to take the initiative to inspect and prosecute, while retaining the arbitration and litigation services of the Rating and Valuation Department, believing that this can effectively regulate the rental market behavior of subdivided housing.
Zhong Huixian expressed concern that the Rating and Valuation Department did not have enough manpower and experience to handle a large number of rental disputes, complaints and inquiries in the early stages of legislation. He pointed out that if the government does not take the initiative to conduct inspections and prosecutions, it will not be able to change the current imbalance between landlords and tenants. condition.
It is recommended that the government should immediately put into effect the law to prevent landlords from taking the opportunity to increase rents significantly
The government stated that the rent control regulations will be officially implemented 3 months after gazettal, that is, as soon as January next year. Some people say that landlords can significantly increase rents or drive away tenants during this period. Therefore, they believe that the ordinance should be gazetted immediately. Implement.
Zhong Huixian worries that unscrupulous landlords will increase rent significantly before enacting legislation or signing a new lease to make up for the subsequent rent increase restrictions imposed by the regulations.
She also pointed out that because the regulations do not have a retrospective period, if the tenants are to be protected in a timely manner, the government should immediately take effect and enact legislation as quickly as possible.
Gan Wenle also pointed out that many tenants have reported that they are worried that landlords will increase rents significantly or cancel their leases during the period from the gazettal of the ordinance to the implementation of the Ordinance. He believes that this "window period" is a loophole that prevents new tenants from subdivided housing from being affected by new contracts. Regulations, it is recommended that the government implement the regulations as soon as possible, shorten the transition period, so that tenants can be protected.
Deng Baoshan said that the survey shows that there is a big gap between the government's "initial rent" attitude and public opinion, reflecting that the government rarely incorporates private voices in research and hopes that the government will make good adjustments in matters.
He again emphasized that because the research team only has representatives of owners and no representatives of tenants, it reflects that the government has insufficient understanding of the sub-divided housing problem and the overall rental market, and that the decision made is far from the general public's opinion.
From July 16 to July 21, the Hong Kong Civil Research Institute contacted members of the Hong Kong Civil Research Opinion Group by email, including the "Hong Kong Citizen Representative Group" and the "Hong Kong Citizen Self-organization Group", and completed the survey online. A total of 5,577 samples were obtained, and the survey asked three questions.
Regarding the current government’s opposition to the establishment of a “starting rent” ceiling on the grounds that there is no objective and easy-to-implement mechanism for determining the “starting rent” ceiling for each sub-divided house, 32% of the interviewees expressed support for this view, and 38% They expressed disapproval, 20% said half and a half, and 10% said they don’t know/it’s hard to tell.
The government does not take the initiative to inspect and prosecute the owners of subdivided houses that violate the regulations, but to report to the tenants and then enforce the law. 24% of the interviewees expressed support, 43% opposed, 27% said half and half, and 5% said they did not know/difficult to say.
Regarding whether the regulations should be implemented immediately after gazettement, 47% of the interviewees expressed support, 21% opposed, and 32% did not know/difficult to say.
Xia Baolong said goodbye to subdivided housing Liu Yeqiang: I don’t think that Dingquan set up a committee to review the initial rent increase of subdivided housing units to promote the establishment of a ceiling of 5 to 10%. Some citizens have to wait for 30 years of public housing rental control | Chen Fan : Owners of subdivided houses can be fined 500,000 and imprisoned for one year when they refuse to renew their rents by taking actions. The government raises subdivided rent control regulations. The DAB proposes that the maximum rent increase be reduced to 10%.
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