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The following is issued on behalf of the Hong Kong Housing Authority:
The Housing Authority will pass on rates concession by the Government for the last two quarters of 2009-10 to its non-domestic tenants/licensees. This follows an earlier arrangement by the Housing Authority for the first two quarters of 2009-10 to its non-domestic tenants/licensees. About 12,200 Housing Authority non-domestic tenants/licensees will benefit from the arrangement.
The rates concession was announced by the Financial Secretary on May 26, subject to a ceiling of $1,500 per quarter for each rateable tenement. The Commercial Properties Committee (CPC) of the Housing Authority today (September 30) endorsed that this rates concession would be passed on to the authority's tenants/licensees of retail, factories and welfare premises. The total amount of rates concession for these premises is estimated to be $16 million.
"This rates concession will be passed on to these tenants/licensees on a 'no-loss-no-gain' principle. They will be exempted from paying the monthly rates from October 1, 2009 to March 31, 2010, for exclusive and inclusive lettings alike, subject to the capping limit of $1,500 per quarter for each rateable tenement. Letters will be sent to the non-domestic tenants/licensees notifying them of the concession amount," a spokesman for the Housing Authority said.
For the three single-operator markets that are held by the Housing Authority - Kwai Chung, Lei Muk Shue and Tin Yan - the operators also agreed to pass on the rates concession to their licensees in full.
Since the amount of rates concession for carpark is on average as small as about $2 per parking space per month while the administrative cost involved would be rather significant, the CPC approved the exclusion of carparks from this exercise.
Ends/Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Issued at HKT 15:52
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