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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:
The Subsidised Housing Committee of the Housing Authority has approved the passing on of rates concession for the third and fourth quarters of 2009-10 to the authority's domestic tenants.
¡§The apportioned amount of concession will be transferred to the tenants on a monthly basis from October 2009 to March 2010 by offsetting an equivalent amount in the rent payable by the tenants,¡¨ a Housing Authority spokesman said today (August 11).
For tenancies that do not cover the whole month, the transfer of rates concession will be made on a pro-rata basis.
¡§The transfer arrangement will also apply to Interim Housing licencees paying licence fees,¡¨ the spokesman said, adding that all sitting tenants and licensees would be individually informed of the arrangement.
The rates of public rental housing assessed by the Commissioner of Rating and Valuation are on block/floor basis. The amount of rates is apportioned to individual flats and rounded to the nearest dollar.
The total amount of rates concession received by the Housing Authority and passed on to domestic tenants/licensees is estimated to be about $600 million.
The arrangements of the transfer of rates concession for non-domestic premises will be considered by the Commercial Properties Committee of the HA separately.
The Financial Secretary announced in May to waive the rates for the two quarters, subject to a ceiling of $1,500 per quarter for each ratable tenement. This is the second rates concession granted by the Government in the current financial year.
Ends/Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:25
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