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A man was fined $2,800 at Tsuen Wan Magistrates' Courts today (April 22) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
The court heard that the officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), Home Affairs Department, inspected premises opposite a licensed guesthouse in Market Street, Tsuen Wan, last September. OLA officers found three rooms with accommodation facilities and two guests on the premises. The two guests admitted that rooms on the premises were rented on a daily and hourly basis.
The defendant was the licence holder of the guesthouse. He admitted that the premises opposite was an unauthorised structure, and the unlicensed guesthouse in operation there was managed by him. According to OLA's record, the premises did not have a valid certificate of exemption or a license on the inspection day. The man involved did manage a guesthouse in the premises other than the premises indicated in the licence issued and therefore Section 21(3)(b) of Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance was contravened.
A department spokesman said it was a criminal offence to operate or manage a guesthouse in any place other than the premises indicated in the licence and that enforcement action would continue to be taken against them to ensure the safety of lodgers. He also appealed to the public to report unlicensed guesthouses to the OLA on 2881 7498.
Ends/Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Issued at HKT 17:01
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