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The following is issued on behalf of the Housing Authority:

Premium assessment for all the Home Ownership Scheme/Private Sector Participation Scheme (HOS/PSPS) flats over five years will be carried out by private surveying firms starting from September 1999.

The Housing Authority first contracted out the premium assessment work of HOS/PSPS flats in Shatin and Ma On Shan to Vigers Hong Kong Limited in March this year. With the relaxation of the resale restriction period from ten years to five years in June 1999, the number of HOS/PSPS flats eligible for premium assessment doubles from around 80,000 to 160,000. To cope with the increasing demand, the Housing Department has invited private surveying firms to bid for the premium assessment work in districts apart from Shatin and Ma On Shan.

In the second phase of the contract-out exercise, which started in September, HOS/PSPS flats were grouped on a geographical basis into four contracts. C. Y. Leung & Co. Ltd. won the Hong Kong and Tseung Kwan O contract, C.B. Richard Ellis Ltd. won the Kowloon contract, Dudley Surveyors Ltd. won the two contracts covering North & Tai Po, and Tuen Mun, Tin Shui Wai, Kwai Tsing & Tsuen Wan. These four contracts cover all HOS/PSPS Courts that have their resale restriction period expired from now up to the next two years, apart from those flats already awarded under the phase 1 contract.

After the relaxation of the resale restriction period in June this year, the average number of applications for premium assessment increased from about 220 to 430 per month.

A spokesman for the Authority said that contracting out the premium assessment to private surveying firms ensures independent, third-party assessment service and copes with the increasing workload effectively.

The services provided by private surveying firms include flat inspection, compiling valuation reports, issuing demand letters, reviewing objection against premium assessments and attending hearings of appeals in the Lands Tribunal. Owners of the HOS flats are still required to submit their applications to respective HOS Court Offices ( Regional Head Offices for PSPS flat owners) while the collection of premium and issue of the Certificate of Removal of Alienation Restrictions will continue to be undertaken by the Housing Department.

END/Tuesday, 14 September, 1999

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