TNAG-0669-FCO40-818-Policy-on-housing-and-resettlement-in-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 34

HOUSING AUTHORITY'S DISCRETION

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VOL 7, NO 2 his counterpart in private accommodation. Secondly, there is the principle of the extended family: children who leave home may later wish to return and this will be impossible if there is insufficient space. Finally, some tenants spend a considerable sum of money improving their flats: it would surely be unreasonable to demand that these tenants move.

Assuming that the practice of compulsory transfer is to continue, it is suggested that tenants ordered to move to a smaller flat should be given a right of appeal to the proposed appeals tribunal. The tribunal would then be in a position to consider impartially whether the circumstances of an individual tenant are sufficient to justify an exception to the current prima facie rule of compulsory transfer in certain defined instances of serious under-utilisation of space.

(3) Discretionary power to reject a voluntary exchange of flats It has always been possible for two public housing tenants to arrange for an exchange of flats through the management of the Authority. Until recently it was the responsibility of a tenant wishing to move to other accommodation to find a tenant willing to exchange his flat. However, in August 1976 the Authority established a Tenants Mutual Exchange Bureau, which on payment of a $10 fee provides public housing tenants with : registration facility whereby they can seek to move to other estates of their choice through exchanging their existing tenancies with other tenants who want to move in the opposite direction.3

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The reason for the suggested creation of a right of appeal in this area is that the Authority reserves to itself a discretionary power to, disallow an exchange, and if an unauthorised exchange takes place both tenants are liable to eviction. Specifically, no exchange will be permitted if one or both of the tenants is in arrears of rent, has failed to fulfil one of the other terms of the tenancy agreement (for example, to repair damage caused by hi family), or if the exchange would render one or both of the flats under-occupied or overcrowded. However, the following wording of the explanatory brochure on the exchange facility 'He will be required

to perform all formalities connected with his existing and prospective tenancies before the exchange of accommodation is allowed'38 is so vague as to give the Authority

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Hong Kong Housing Authority, Tenants Mutual Exchange Bureau. Information for Applicants (1976).

38 ibid, 1-2.