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Why do we have to carry out building maintenance and repair? If my building is going to carry out maintenance or remove unauthorised building works, where can I apply for loans or grants? These are some of the questions frequently asked by property owners.
In order to help owners understand their duties and the available loan or grant schemes for building maintenance, the Home Affairs Department (HAD) has published a new leaflet, "Property Owners and Private Building Maintenance", to give more information to homeowners on building management and maintenance.
A spokesman for the HAD said today (May 25), "Owners of private buildings have the responsibility to regularly inspect and maintain their buildings to avoid endangering the public. If accidents occur in the common parts of a building causing injury or death of a third party, the civil liability of the owners' corporation and owners could be heavy in financial terms.
"To better protect the interests of owners and third parties, owners' corporations should procure third party risk insurance in relation to the common parts of buildings."
The leaflet, in simple language, lists some cases for reference -- maintenance works to be carried out by individual owners; maintenance works to be carried out by individual elderly owner-occupiers; owners' corporation initiated maintenance works; and owners' corporations that have received a statutory order to carry out maintenance works. Through these case studies, owners can better understand the contents of and differences among various building maintenance loan and grant schemes offered by the Buildings Department, the Hong Kong Housing Society and the Urban Renewal Authority.
The leaflet has been sent to owners' corporations, owners' committees and Mutual Aid Committees. Members of the public may obtain a copy of the leaflet from the Public Enquiry Service Centres of the 18 District Offices.
For enquiries on formation of owners' corporations or general building management matters, members of the public may contact HAD's District Building Management Liaison Teams:
District Telephone No.
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Central & Western 2119 5010
Eastern 2886 6569
Southern 2814 5762
Wan Chai 2835 1999
Kowloon City 2621 3406
Kwun Tong 2171 7465
Sham Shui Po 2150 8175
Wong Tai Sin 3143 1160
Yau Tsim Mong 2399 2155
Islands 2852 4318
Kwai Tsing 2494 4543
North 2675 1719
Sai Kung 2163 9431
Sha Tin 2158 5388
Tai Po 2654 1262
Tsuen Wan 3515 5654
Tuen Mun 2404 6535
Yuen Long 2478 6120
Ends/Sunday, May 25, 2008
Issued at HKT 16:00
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