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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
Owners of Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats, who intend to alienate their properties, are reminded to pay land premium beforehand. Five HOS owners in four cases have so far been prosecuted successfully under the Housing Ordinance this year for alienating HOS flat without paying land premium.
ˇ§The most recent case was heard by the Shatin Magistratesˇ¦ Court on April 6, 2009, in which the owner and purchaser were both convicted and each fined $6,000,ˇ¨ a spokesman for the Housing Department (HD) said today (April 10).
In this case, the owner purchased a flat in Chevalier Garden, Shatin in 1987. Investigation by the HD revealed that the owner had entered into an Assignment with the purchaser in 2008 but no consent had been granted by the Housing Authority for the Assignment and no land premium had been paid.
ˇ§Such act is an offence under Section 27A of the Housing Ordinance and is liable upon conviction to a maximum penalty of a fine of $500,000 and imprisonment for one year. The sale is also void under Section 17B of the Ordinance,ˇ¨ the spokesman said.
Another two cases involve alienation of HOS flats by entering into Agreements for Sales and Purchase by the owners in Chung Ming Court, Tseung Kwan O and King Shing Court, Fanling. The owners were respectively fined $7,500 and $10,000 in February and March this year. They are the first two cases prosecuted by the Housing Department for alienating HOS flats involving Agreements for Sales and Purchase without paying land premium.
The defendant of the last case bought an HOS flat in Po Nga Court, Tai Po under the HOS Secondary Market Scheme. She alienated the property by means of subletting but without paying the land premium. She was convicted by the court in March this year and fined $20,000.
Ends/Friday, April 10, 2009
Issued at HKT 16:00
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