ENG-1969 — Page 202

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LAND AND HOUSING

RENT CONTROL

Rent control, instituted immediately after the war, was embodied in the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance of 1947, which restricted rent by reference to pre-war levels, while exempting new and sub- stantially reconstructed buildings from control. By 1954 permitted increases in standard rents reached 55 per cent for domestic premises and 150 per cent for business premises; there have been no further increases for controlled premises.

Redevelopment of controlled premises is covered by a provision in the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance by which premises may be excluded from the provisions of the ordinance by order of the Governor in Council or the Governor, depending on whether or not an appeal has been made against the tenancy tribunal's recommendation, the payment of compensation to the tenants being invariably one of the conditions imposed.

In addition, the ordinance was amended in 1968 to permit agreements by which a tenant of protected premises may accept compensation from his landlord in return for vacating the premises, subject to the agreement being certified as voluntary by the Secretariat for Home Affairs; 130 such agreements were certified during 1969. Further proposals in the field of rent legislation were under consideration at the end of the year.

Since 1953 two tenancy inquiry bureaux, one each in Hong Kong and Kowloon, have operated as part of the Secretariat for Home Affairs to help in the smooth working of the Landlord and Tenant. Ordinance. Their principal task is to supply factual information to tenancy tribunals when a landlord applies for an exclusion order, or when a pre-war building is declared dangerous by the Building Authority. Since 1964 the bureaux have also been responsible for paying advances of compensation to tenants who are required to vacate dangerous buildings.

The bureaux also provide general advice and assistance in tenancy matters and perform statutory functions under various ordinances.

MULTI-STOREY BUILDING MANAGEMENT

The problems caused by the multiple ownership of many of the large multi-storey buildings which have been built in Hong Kong