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A man was fined $12,000 at the Tuen Mun Magistrates' Courts today (January 29) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
The courts heard that officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), Home Affairs Department, inspected a suspected unlicensed guesthouse in the Yuen Long section of Castle Peak Road in June last year. OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in the guesthouse on an hourly basis.
According to the OLA's record, the guesthouse did not possess a licence under the Ordinance on the day of inspection. The man responsible for operating the guesthouse was charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and will lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years' imprisonment.
He appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application "Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses".
Ends/Friday, January 29, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:00
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