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Managers of unlicensed guesthouses sentenced to immediate imprisonment and fined
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     ​Two men and a woman were charged with contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (September 14). The woman had been convicted of managing an unlicensed guesthouse in November last year and was given a suspended sentence. Due to her violation of the term of suspension, the court activated the suspended sentence today. She was therefore sentenced to one month and five weeks' imprisonment in total. The two men were fined $8,000 and $18,000 respectively.
      
     The courts heard that from February to May this year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), the Home Affairs Department, inspected three suspected unlicensed guesthouses in Lai Chi Kok Road and Mong Kok Road in Mong Kok and Kimberley Road in Tsim Sha Tsui. OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented rooms in these guesthouses on an hourly or daily basis.
      
     According to the OLA's records, these guesthouses did not possess licences under the Ordinance on the days of inspection. The men and the 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 by 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, September 14, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:30
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