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Following is a question by the Hon Ip Kwok-him and a written reply by the Secretary for Home Affairs, Mr Lau Kong-wah, in the Legislative Council today (March 2):
Question:
At present, there are about 6 000 buildings aged 50 years or above across the territory, and such figure is increasing by 580 each year. To assist property owners in arranging building maintenance works properly and to combat tender rigging, the Home Affairs Department (HAD) launched in collaboration with relevant professional bodies the "AP Easy" Building Maintenance Advisory Service Scheme (AP Easy Scheme) in April 2014 to offer in-depth, comprehensive and tailor-made professional advisory service free of charge to owners' corporations (OCs) in respect of building maintenance works. However, quite a number of property owners and OCs have relayed to me that the support given to them is still inadequate. On the other hand, the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) will launch the Building Rehabilitation Facilitating Services (Pilot Scheme) (Pilot Scheme) in April or May this year to provide technical assistance for OCs of private residential buildings to minimise their potential exposure to tender rigging in the process of carrying out maintenance works for their buildings. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the details of the various support (including legal advice) and subsidies currently available to OCs in respect of matters concerning building maintenance works;
(2) whether it has assessed the effectiveness of the AP Easy Scheme since its inception; given that applications for this Scheme closed in September last year and the Scheme will conclude by the end of March this year, whether HAD will launch a new and standing scheme to provide advisory services in respect of building maintenance works; if not, of the reasons for that;
(3) given that only property owners of buildings aged 30 years or above with relatively low rateable values are eligible for applying for the Pilot Scheme to be launched by URA, whether the Government will request URA to relax this eligibility threshold so that property owners of middle-class housing estates may also benefit from this Scheme; if not, of the reasons for that; and
(4) given that the responsibilities of the District Building Management Liaison Teams set up by the authorities in various districts include providing support services for property owners and OCs, as well as assisting various government departments in their work regarding building maintenance, but relevant legal knowledge is needed for handling such work, whether the staff of the liaison teams have received the relevant legal training; if not, of the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
(1) It is the responsibility of owners to manage and properly maintain their buildings. As building maintenance involves complicated professional knowledge, Government departments concerned and related agencies have all along endeavoured to assist owners, through multi-pronged approach including the provision of support services and public education, to carry out building maintenance works.
On the provision of support services, according to information provided by the Development Bureau (DEVB), the Buildings Department (BD), the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) and the Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) currently run a number of financial and technical assistance schemes to help owners with different needs to maintain and repair their properties. These include -
(i) the Integrated Building Maintenance Assistance Scheme implemented by the URA;
(ii) the Building Maintenance Grant Scheme for Elderly Owners, funded by the Government and run by the HKHS to meet the needs of the elderly owners; and
(iii) the Building Safety Loan Scheme provided by BD, which offers low-interest loans for voluntary or mandatory building and slope repairs, fire services, lifts, electrical installations and gas risers maintenance and upgrades, and removal of unauthorised building works.
Details of the above schemes are set out at the Annex.
To assist owners to fulfill their responsibilities of building management and to arrange maintenance works properly, the Home Affairs Department (HAD) will refer owners' corporation (OC) in need to participate in the above-mentioned financial and technical support schemes. HAD also actively provides other support services to owners, such as –
(i) to launch the Building Management Professional Advisory Service Scheme (BMPASS) since 2011 to tackle the problems of lacking management and organisation of owners of "three-nil" buildings (i.e. buildings without OC or any form of owners/residents organisation or management company). Professional property management companies (PMCs) are engaged to provide one-stop building management advisory services to targeted buildings so as to help organise owners to improve building management. Among the others, the scope of services of the BMPASS include preparation of management audit reports by the PMC for the fire services, electrical installation and other common facilities of the targeted buildings, provision of assistance to owners in forming OCs and applying for various maintenance subsidies, and assistance for following up with maintenance works and tendering matters, etc.;
(ii) to implement the "AP Easy" Building Maintenance Advisory Service Pilot Scheme ("AP Easy" Pilot Scheme), in collaboration with the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers and the Hong Kong Institute of Architects, to assist OCs to appoint works consultants (please see paragraph (2) below for details);
(iii) if necessary, to refer OCs and owners to participate in the Free Legal Advice Service on Building Management launched by HAD in collaboration with the Law Society of Hong Kong, where legal advice is offered by voluntary lawyers free of charge; and
(iv) when disputes arise, to refer OCs and owners to participate in the dedicated Panel of Advisors on Building Management Disputes set up by HAD to receive neutral and professional advice provided by professionals. If both parties agreed, they can also participate in the Free Mediation Service Pilot Scheme for Building Management, run by HAD in collaboration with the Hong Kong Mediation Council and the Hong Kong Mediation Centre. Free mediation service will be provided by accredited mediators to assist the parties to resolve disputes.
In addition, HAD has been working closely with relevant government departments, agencies and professional institutes to strengthen public education and publicity, provide information on the procedures for building maintenance, anti-corruption and anti-crime, etc. to OCs and owners in order to protect owners' interest, and encourage owners to actively participate in OC general meetings and building maintenance works.
(2) "AP Easy" Pilot Scheme was launched in April 2014. Members of the three professional institutes participated in the scheme formed expert teams to offer tailor-made professional advice to OCs on a voluntary basis, including explaining the role and responsibility of works consultant, tender process, how to draft tender/contract document and analyse quotation, etc., to help OCs to choose an appropriate works consultant in order to reduce the risk of bid-rigging.
HAD has received a total of 116 applications since the launch of the "AP Easy" Pilot Scheme, among which 73 OCs were eligible (Note 1). As at February 2016, we have already arranged over 100 interviews between the expert teams and OCs. Majority of the OCs participated in the "AP Easy" Pilot Scheme were satisfied with the reference materials and templates provided, professional advice offered by the expert teams and meeting arrangements, etc. Relevant profession institutes also make positive feedback on the scheme.
"AP Easy" is only a pilot scheme. As URA will launch the Building Rehabilitation Facilitating Services Pilot Scheme (Building Rehabilitation Pilot Scheme) in the second quarter of this year (please see paragraph (3) below for details), the "AP Easy" Pilot Scheme will not be extended upon its conclusion in end-March, by which all cases are expected to be satisfactorily completed.
(3) According to DEVB, URA will launch the Building Rehabilitation Pilot Scheme in the second quarter of this year to enhance technical support for owners to carry out building repair and maintenance works, including provision of guidelines and contract samples, arranging professionals to provide independent advice, establishing an electronic tendering platform, etc., to help reduce the risk of bid-rigging.
Private residential buildings aged 30 years or above with an average rateable value of residential unit not exceeding $300,000 p.a. (urban areas) or $160,000 p.a. (New Territories) are eligible to apply to join the Pilot Scheme. According to the information provided by URA, there are about 19 000 buildings meeting the above criteria, accounting for about 90% of all private residential buildings of that age range in Hong Kong and covering many large scale private housing developments. URA will review the scheme in 12 to 18 months' time and will actively consider extending the services to more buildings if the results of the Pilot Scheme are satisfactory.
(4) To equip Liaison Officers (LOs) with the professional knowledge for discharging their building management duties more effectively, HAD proactively provides training programmes and briefing sessions for them on a regular and need basis. These include induction courses on building management for all newly-recruited LOs, and workshops and talks on the provisions of the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344) (BMO) and judgments made by the court. In addition, tertiary institutes are engaged to provide tailor-made training courses for LOs responsible for building management duties, with course content focusing on legal issues related to multi-storey building management.
Furthermore, there is a legal adviser in HAD to provide training on the BMO and related court cases for LOs tasked with building management duties, and provide legal support to frontline LOs when necessary.
Nevertheless, LOs are not legal professionals and should not render legal advice to OCs and owners. If necessary, OCs and owners should seek advice from legal professionals, or take part in the Free Legal Advice Service on Building Management as mentioned in paragraph (1) above to receive free legal advisory services by voluntary lawyers.
Note 1: OCs and their buildings must meet the prescribed criteria, including residential or composite (commercial/residential) buildings aged 20 years or above; the annual average rateable value of the residential units does not exceed $300,000; no PMC has been engaged; and the proposed maintenance works have not received subsidies from the Operation Building Bright or the Common Area Repair Works Subsidy and/or the Common Area Repair Works Interest-free Loan under the Integrated Building Maintenance Assistance Scheme. The majority (96%) of the eligible OCs come from buildings aged 30 years or above.
Ends/Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Issued at HKT 12:30
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