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The fifth household which has been allotted more than 16 penalty points under the Marking Scheme for Tenancy Enforcement in Public Rental Housing Estates voluntarily surrendered his flat.
Between July and October 2005, the tenant was allotted a total of 20 points for four counts of accumulating a large quantity of refuse or waste inside leased premises, creating offensive smell and hygienic nuisance.
The Housing Authority then issued a Notice-To-Quit to terminate his tenancy at the end of October. The tenant surrendered his flat shortly without lodging any appeal to the Appeal Panel. He and his household moved into accommodation arranged by the Social Welfare Department.
Stressing that the Marking Scheme has achieved its deterrent effect, the Deputy Director of Housing (Estate Management), Mr. Lau Kai-hung, said that strict enforcement action would be taken against hygiene-related misdeeds.
Mr. Lau reminded public rental housing tenants that three more hygiene-related misdeeds would be included in the Marking Scheme from 1st January 2006.
¡°This brings the total number of misdeeds to 23, categorized into four groups by their degree of adversity to the living environment with 3, 5, 7 and 15 points to be deducted. When 16 points have been allotted to a household within two years, the subject tenancy will be terminated,¡± he said.
Introduced in August 2003, the Marking Scheme aims to strengthen enforcement measures against hygiene-related offences in PRH estates and Interim Housing Estates to promote civil responsibility among tenants and to improve the living environment of the estates.
As at 22 December 2005, there are 2,915 households allotted points under the Scheme, households with points expired after 2 years not included. Of them, 65 households have accumulated 10 points or more due to commitment of two or more misdeeds.¡¡The number of households had been allotted points accumulated to 4,123 since the launch of the Scheme.
The first two cases of termination of tenancy under the Marking Scheme were granted discretionary amendment to the NTQ by the Appeal Panel. The tenant in the third case surrendered his flat. In the fourth case, the department carried out an eviction operation to recover the unit.
Ends/Saturday, December 24, 2005
Issued at HKT 13:10
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