ENG-1962 — Page 233

LAND AND HOUSING

189

Since 1953 two tenancy inquiry bureaux have been set up within the framework of the Secretariat for Chinese Affairs to help the machinery of the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance work smoothly. The principal statutory duties placed on these bureaux are to provide tenancy tribunals with factual information whenever an application is made by a landlord for exclusion from control, or by a tenant for the reduction of rent. During 1962 the bureaux forwarded to the tribunals 4,965 sketch plans with measure- ments and particulars. In connexion with exclusion cases the staff of the bureaux interviewed 19,481 tenants personally.

Reports of rent increases prompted Government to enact the Tenancy (Notice of Termination) Ordinance, which came into force on 14th April 1962, with a view to introducing a 'rent pause'. It provides, inter alia, that to terminate a tenancy in uncontrolled premises a landlord should normally give six months' written notice. Landlords and tenants may, however, make agreements providing for the termination of tenancies by the giving of notice of shorter duration, and such agreements may be forwarded to the Secretary for Chinese Affairs for ratification. A total of 178 such agreements was ratified. On 12th October 1962, an amend- ment to this ordinance was enacted which, in effect, extended the 'rent pause' period to 30th June 1963.

As a direct result of their contact with landlords, principal tenants and sub-tenants, the officers of these bureaux find them- selves mediating in a large number of minor but varied tenancy disputes and also answering numerous letters and inquiries from the public. This service has been of great value, for the parties are usually reluctant to go to court and still more reluctant to testify in public against their closest neighbours. The staff of the bureaux handled 748 of these disputes during 1962.