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Two women were fined $6,000 and $8,000 respectively at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (May 21) for contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance.
The courts heard that in October last year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), Home Affairs Department, inspected a licensed guesthouse on Nathan Road in Mong Kok. The OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in another guesthouse in the same building on a daily basis.
According to the OLA's records, 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.
In November of the same year, OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented a room in an unlicensed guesthouse on To Kwa Wan Road in Kowloon City on a daily basis. The female manager of the guesthouse was 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, an 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/Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Issued at HKT 17:15
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