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The Housing Department (HD) spares no effort in combating abuses of Public Rental Housing (PRH) flats.
A PRH tenant at Ping Shek Estate, Kwun Tong, was convicted for knowingly making a false statement and neglecting to provide the particulars specified in an income declaration form, contrary to the Housing Ordinance. The Court of First Instance of the High Court dismissed her appeal.
A Housing Authority spokesman said today (January 2) that the tenant, who is an authorised person of the PRH flat, declared in an income declaration form in 2013 that she did not have a job and had no income and did not own any property. However, investigation revealed that during the assessment period, she had deliberately concealed the fact that her monthly income was more than $30,000 and neglected to provide the particulars of a property jointly owned by her. She was convicted in a trial in the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts and ordered to pay fines of $16,500 and $10,500 for the two summonses.
The defendant (appellant) then lodged an appeal against the conviction to the Court of First Instance of the High Court. In the judgement delivered on December 30, 2015, the Judge of the Court of First Instance pointed out that:
(1) Regarding the summons for providing false information knowingly (i.e. declaring that she did not have a job and related income), the appellant indicated that due to health reasons, she decided to quit her job in November 2013. She thought that the income declaration form was used to assess her rent after 2014. As such, it was not necessary for her to declare income for the period from October 1, 2012, to October 31, 2013. Under caution, the appellant admitted that she was aware of the form requirement to declare her income in the assessment period. But she considered that it was unfair to do so. In the trial, she gave testimony that her brother told her to declare her income at that time. The court regarded her allegation unreasonable for an accountant like her. The appellant intentionally filled in 'N/A' in the monthly income. If she was in'ignorance' and 'misrepresented', why did she not fill in '0? Under such circumstances, the court believed that she was aware that she was providing false information; and
(2) Regarding the summons for neglecting to provide particulars specified in the income declaration form (i.e. declaring that she did not have any property), the appellant alleged that due to no rental income, she perceived that it was not required to fill in the property information. However, in the trial, she testified that she had not observed the details and completion guidelines of the income declaration form. The court regarded the appellant's act to delete 'Yes' and not to fill in information indicated that she knew the existence and meaning of the item. Being a professional accountant, her allegation was incredible. The appellant had filled in '0' in the column 'Total', showing that she did not have any income or derived income (i.e. for the non-leased property). Explicitly, the appellant had the intent to commit a crime.
Taking into consideration all the grounds raised by the appellant, the court ordered dismissal of the appeal against conviction and maintenance of the original judgement and relevant fines. In addition, the appellant was ordered to pay the cost of the appeal hearing.
According to prevailing policy, households who have been living in PRH for 10 years or more are required to declare household income every two years. Those with household income exceeding the Subsidy Income Limit are required to pay 1.5 times or double net rent plus rates. Those who are required to pay double net rent plus rates are required to declare assets at the next declaration cycle. If the value of their net household assets exceeds the Net Assets Limit or they have opted not to declare, they are required to vacate their PRH unit to those with housing needs. The HD has a system in place to investigate the households' income and asset declarations with a view to determine the amount of rent to be paid or eligibility to continue renting the PRH flat.
As the foundation for assessment of rent, households should complete the income and asset declaration forms accurately. Before making the declarations, households should read the content and completion guidelines of the income and asset declaration form carefully and compute their income and assets in accordance with the methods specified. Otherwise, they may contravene Section 26(1)(a) of the Housing Ordinance (if convicted, the maximum fine is $50,000 and imprisonment of six months); or Section 27(a) of the Housing Ordinance (if convicted, the maximum fine is $25,000 and imprisonment of three months). Notwithstanding the above, the HD will take action to recover the undercharged rent incurred by the inaccurate information.
Ends/Saturday, January 2, 2016
Issued at HKT 11:00
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