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A man and two women were fined $3,000 each at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts today (October 8) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
The courts heard that officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), Home Affairs Department, inspected three suspected unlicensed guesthouses on Wan Chai Road and Hennessy Road in Wan Chai and Paterson Street in Causeway Bay in March and April this year. OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented rooms in these three guesthouses on a daily basis.
According to the OLA's records, these guesthouses did not possess valid certificates of exemption or licences under the Ordinance on the days of inspection. Therefore, the man and the women responsible for managing or operating these premises respectively were charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and will lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years' imprisonment.
He appealed to the public to report suspected illegal guesthouses to the OLA through the OLA hotline (2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk) or by fax (fax number: 2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the website (www.hadla.gov.hk).
Ends/Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Issued at HKT 17:45
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