good repair. However, block officers are also responsible for control of tenancies, addition of new family members, relief of overcrowding and many other duties. There is no doubt that they are over-burdened and the suggestion has been made that caretakers should be recruited to take over their more routine duties.
58. Unlike the normal commercial practice, there is no formal lease between landlord and tenant. Letting of tenancies is governed by Section 28 of the Ordinance. Tenants of resettlement estates are issued with a tenancy card listing a number of basic conditions which they are expected to observe under pain of eviction. While the procedure for dealing with most situations which a block officer might encounter in the course of his daily duties is covered by instructions in the Estates Division Operation Manual, the actual enforcement of conditions requires tact and patience. Difficult cases are referred to the Officer-in- Charge, the Group Resettlement Officer and, ultimately, Headquarters. Warning letters, final warnings and finally termination of tenancy and eviction notices are issued-see Appendix 6. During the year, block officers were under considerable pressure dealing with illegal decora- tions, recovery of rent, relief of overcrowding, cleansing operations, enforcement of tenancy conditions and operations against hawkers.
59. The normal procedure for intakes is that completed blocks are taken over from the Public Works Department, temporarily locked and patrolled by departmental watchmen. Two weeks before the day of clearance, the Clearance Sub-Division send lists of families to the Resettlement Officer concerned, and the latter allocates rooms of suitable sizes in a vacant block, as far as possible filling up the block by floors from bottom to top. On the given day, groups of 50 families arrive at the estate office where they pay the first month's rent, water and electricity deposits, and receive their keys and a list of do's and don't's.
60. Most families do not move in immediately, but arrange for their rooms to be decorated. Because of the basic standard of room finish, and the increasing affluence of those resettled, tenants in the new estates almost invariably embark on an extensive programme of decoration for their rooms, plastering the walls, tiling the floors, and enclosing the balcony for use as a kitchen. These alterations, which may cost up to $1,000 a room, cause a considerable management problem for block officers and during the year over 1,000 warnings were issued on this subject. This expensive decoration also means that the tenants con- cerned will be very unwilling to move in the future.
18
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.