ENG-1988 — Page 223

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HOUSING

After the clearance, the site will be developed by the Urban Council into a public park with related community facilities. Construction work for this is expected to begin in early 1992.

At the end of the year, 7000 residents had been rehoused and the operators of 255 commercial concerns had accepted cash compensation totalling $24,700,000.

Management of Private Residential Buildings in Multiple Ownership Privately owned buildings constitute more than half of the territory's housing stock and accommodate about half of the population. Most of these buildings are high-rise blocks which are held by a number of owners who may or may not be residents of the building. The nature of ownership of these buildings, combined with other factors, has resulted in a situation over the years where the management of some private properties has deteriorated. Although the management of privately owned buildings is the responsibility of property owners, the consequences of consistent neglect are of serious concern to the government. The government is, therefore, taking steps to provide a better legal and administrative framework to enable those concerned to manage their properties more effectively.

Legislative amendments are being prepared to amend the Multi-Storey Buildings (Owners Incorporation) Ordinance to make it easier to form owners' corporations and to improve their functioning. Such corporations act in the interests of individual owners. regarding their rights, powers, duties and liabilities in relation to those parts of a build- ing held in common ownership. Although the existence of an owners' corporation does not guarantee good management of a building, it has been found from experience that management standards in buildings which have owners' corporations have generally been better than in cases where no comparable management body exists.

To involve the public in developing policies on building management, a new Advisory Committee on Private Building Management has been formed. This committee consists of a majority of non-official members and advises the government on measures to improve the management of private buildings.

Separately, a government inter-departmental working group is examining ways to resolve the problems associated with existing Deeds of Mutual Covenant, many of which fail to protect adequately the interests of individual flat owners.

So far, ten Building Management Co-ordination Teams have been set up to offer advice to owners' corporations, mutual aid committees and other building management bodies, at a district level. These teams of professional housing managers and assistants play an important role in encouraging the formation of owners' corporations and in providing advice to the members of management committees. They also work towards improving public awareness in building management matters through seminars and discussion groups.

Rent Control in the Private Sector

Statutory controls on rents and security of tenure in Hong Kong date back to 1921. The present legislation governing these matters is the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance.

The legislation is under constant review to improve its working and to achieve the objective, recommended in 1981 by a Committee of Review and endorsed by the govern- ment, that as soon as circumstances permit, rent control should be phased out.

At present, statutory controls apply only to domestic premises in the private sector unless otherwise exempted. Tenants are afforded rent increase control and security of tenure. Unless a tenant voluntarily vacates the premises, a landlord must apply on certain specified grounds and obtain an order from the Lands Tribunal before he can recover possession.