More compensation to tenants affected by redevelopment
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The Secretary for Housing, Mr Dominic Wong, will move a motion at the Legislative Council sitting on March 27/28 to amend Legislative Councillor James To Kun-sun's resolution in order to provide statutory compensation payment in a fair and equitable manner to tenants dispossessed for redevelopment purpose.
The Government's amending motion seeks to replace the existing flat rate compensation of 1.7 times the rateable value specified in the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance by a sliding scale of compensation levels as follows:
Portions of Rateable Value (RV)
1st portion of RV up to $30,000 2nd portion of RV $30,001 to $45,000 3rd portion of RV $45,001 to $60,000 4th portion of RV $60,001 to $75,000 Remainder of RV above $75,000
Multiplier
5
4
3
2
1
Based on the above scale, the formula to work out the statutory compensation for an average old style tenement unit with a rateable value of $60,000, for example, is as follows:
($30,000 X 5)+($15,000 X 4)+($15,000 X 3) = $255,000
Mr Wong said, "We accept that there is a need to increase compensation to tenants of sublet and smaller premises subject to redevelopment because they are in greater need of financial assistance for finding alternative accommodation. That is why we propose a substantial increase in compensation levels from the present 1.7 times rateable value to five times for premises with rateable values lower than $30,000. This will cover most sublet units such as bedspaces, cubicles, cocklofts and bedrooms where we think tenants deserve the biggest increase."
"Our proposal will avoid unnecessarily benefiting better-off tenants living in larger flats with higher rateable values. These people should have no problem in relocating themselves."
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