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Following is a question by the Hon Frederick Fung and a reply by the Secretary for Housing, Planning and Lands, Mr Michael Suen, in the Legislative Council today (November 20):
Question:
Regarding default on rental payments by tenants of public rental housing ("PRH") estates, will the Government inform this Council :
(a) of the percentage of PRH tenants defaulting on rental payments and the number of those tenants who defaulted on such payments for more than three times, in each of the past five years; and
(b) whether it will consider waiving the rents of PRH tenants who have low incomes but do not receive Comprehensive Social Security Assistance payments ?
Reply:
Madam President,
(a) First of all, I would like to outline the procedures followed by the Housing Department in dealing with non-payment of rents by public housing tenants :
(1) On the 14th day of each month, the Housing Department will issue reminders to tenants who have not paid their rents for that month, alerting them to the relevant provisions in the Tenancy Agreement.
(2) On the 7th day of the following month, if tenants who default on rents in the previous month still fail to pay their rents, the Housing Department will issue written warnings to remind them that their tenancies may be terminated if they do not settle the rent arrears in honour of the Tenancy Agreement.
(3) On the 21st day of that month, tenants who have not yet settled the arrears will be issued final warnings, which urge them to clear up all arrears within four days.
(4) At the end of that month, the Housing Department will issue notices-to-quit to tenants who still default on rental payments, informing them that their tenancies will be terminated after one month.
(5) The annual rent default rates in the past five years as calculated from the number of notices-to-quit issued are set out below:
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
(up to
30 June)
---- ---- ---- ---- ---------
Rent default
Cases 1,491 1,873 1,923 2,083 1,508
% of total
households 0.25% 0.31% 0.33% 0.36% --
Since rent default records are kept on separate case files, we have no computer or statistical records for calculating the number of public housing tenants who had defaulted on rent thrice or more.
(b) As to the second part of the question, I would like to reiterate that the public rental housing programme is aimed to provide low-income families with affordable accommodation. Hence, in determining public housing rents, tenants' affordability is always our paramount consideration. The current level of public housing rents is very low. About 65 per cent of public housing tenants pay less than $1,500 per month for rent, which should be affordable to the majority of our tenants. Moreover, in the process of flat allocation, tenants can choose flats within their affordability range. If their financial situation subsequently changes, they can also apply for transfer to a flat with a lower rent to reduce their rental expenditure.
Tenants who encounter economic hardship but are not receiving Comprehensive Social Security Assistance can apply for Rent Assistance and obtain a 50 per cent rent reduction if they have difficulties in paying rent, e.g. when rent takes up more than 25 per cent of their income, or their income is below 50 per cent of the Waiting List limit.
The current three-tier arrangements through rent determination, flat allocation and Rent Assistance, and with the Comprehensive Social Security Assistance Scheme providing the final protection, should be sufficient in assisting low-income public housing tenants. Additional assistance in the form of rental waiver is unnecessary at the present stage.
End/Wednesday, November 20, 2002
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