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Three men and a woman were fined $5,000 to $20,000 at Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (March 9) 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 four suspected unlicensed guesthouses in February to October last year, two of which were on Reclamation Street in Mong Kok, while the other two were at the junction of Portland Street and Shantung Street in Mong Kok and To Kwa Wan Road in Kowloon City. During the inspections, the OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented rooms in these guesthouses on a daily basis.
According to the OLA's record, the guesthouses did not possess licences under the Ordinance on the days of inspection. The men and woman responsible for managing the premises 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 years' imprisonment.
He appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application "Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses".
Ends/Wednesday, March 9, 2016
Issued at HKT 18:04
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