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A woman and a man were each fined $5,000 at the Eastern Magistrates' Courts today (June 17) 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 two suspected unlicensed guesthouses in Cleveland Street in Causeway Bay as well as Kingˇ¦s Road in North Point in December last year. OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented rooms in these two guesthouses on a daily basis.
According to the OLA's records, these guesthouses did not possess licences under the Ordinance on the days of inspection. Therefore, the woman and the man responsible for operating or managing 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 yearsˇ¦ 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 (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the website (www.hadla.gov.hk).
Ends/Tuesday, June 17, 2014
Issued at HKT 18:10
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