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Two women were charged with contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance (the Ordinance) today (April 30) at the Kowloon City Magistrates Courts. One was fined $6,000 and the other one was fined $10,000 and sentenced to one month¡¦s imprisonment, suspended for 1 year.
The courts heard that an officer of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), the Home Affairs Department, inspected a licensed guesthouse on Nathan Road in Jordan in September last year. The OLA officer posed as a lodger and successfully rented a room in another guesthouse in the same building on a daily basis.
According to the OLA's record, this guesthouse did not possess a licence under the Ordinance on the day of inspection. Therefore, the female manager of the premises was charged with contravening section 21(3)(b) of the Ordinance for managing a guesthouse in a place other than the one indicated in the licence.
Furthermore, in November last year, an OLA officer posed as a lodger and successfully rented a room in an unlicensed guesthouse in Dundas Street, Mong Kok. The woman responsible for managing the premises was therefore 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 fax (fax number: 2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the website (www.hadla.gov.hk).
Ends/Wednesday, April 30, 2014
Issued at HKT 18:10
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