224
A J BRADBROOK
HKLJ (1977)
notice to quit. Section 20 (1) of the Housing Ordinance provides the following protection to any tenant whose tenancy agreement is purportedly determined by the Authority under section 19(1):
'Where a lease has been terminated under section 19(1)(a) or (aa), or where a notice to quit has been given under section 19(1) (b), the tenant may appeal to the committee, appointed by the Authority under section 7(2), not later than ten days after the date on which
(a) service of the notice of termination has been effected
under section 19A (2); or
(b) notice to quit has been given under section 19(1)(b), as the case may be.'
It is proposed that the tribunal should in future hear appeals against notice of termination in the same manner as the appeals committee. This would seem essential since the right of termination given to the Authority under section 19 is very wide- ranging, and since the tenant, if evicted, may be rendered homeless.
In fairness to the Authority it should be noted that it has exercised its powers of termination very sparingly in the past. Most cases of termination have occurred because of sub-letting or non-occupation, and in both these situations in view of the current shortage of housing in Hong Kong a tenant could have no valid complaint against a notice of termination if he is not in personal occupation of the flat. Except for under-occupation, which will be discussed separately later in this article, the only other reasons for the Authority terminating a tenancy in the past have been for arrears of rent, illegal use of the flat, and creating a nuisance.31 By nature, these reasons for termination are more controversial, and are likely to lead to tenant-initiated appeals.
Cases of nuisance are extremely rare, and any problem of this nature is usually solved by a warning given by a Housing Assistant to the tenant concerned; so rare is this problem, in fact, that there have only been two or three cases of termination of tenancy agreement for this reason in the history of the Authority.
Cases of termination for the illegal use of flats have been more frequent in the past, but the Authority has adopted a humane and flexible approach to this problem. The Authority recently announced its policy on this matter in a press release: 81 See note 20, above.