The Home Affairs Department (HAD) published today (January 1) the Administrative Guidelines on Best Practices on Building Management. The Administrative Guidelines contain best practices related to different areas of building management for the reference of owners, owners' corporations (OCs), owners' committees (OComms), Deed of Mutual Covenant (DMC) managers and property management companies (PMCs), etc, with a view to assisting them in better fulfilling the responsibilities in managing their buildings. 

     The Administrative Guidelines contain the updated best practices in building management issued by the HAD, and have incorporated the proposals in the public consultation on the review of the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344) (BMO) conducted in 2014-15 and the enhanced proposals presented to the Legislative Council Panel on Home Affairs in November 2017 by the Home Affairs Bureau and HAD.

     The Administrative Guidelines cover the following areas: 

(i) formation of an OC;
(ii) procurement process, including preparation of invitation to tender, consideration and decision on acceptance of tenders and actions after the acceptance of tenders;
(iii) general meeting and use of proxy instruments, including the convening of a general meeting and issuance of notice of meeting, submission of proxy instruments, conduct of a general meeting and actions after the conclusion of a general meeting; and
(iv) financial arrangement.

     The HAD encourages owners, OCs, OComms, DMC managers and PMCs to follow the Administrative Guidelines above. The Administrative Guidelines can be downloaded from the dedicated homepage on building management of the HAD. To facilitate relevant parties in following the requirements, the HAD will also issue shortly a Checklist on Procedural Propriety, which is a checklist consolidating the requirements under the BMO and the Codes of Practice (CoP) issued by the Secretary for Home Affairs under the BMO and the Administrative Guidelines. Meanwhile, the HAD will also provide to OCs in need the "Advisory Services to OCs", with a view to assisting them in complying with the requirements under the BMO and the CoP and following the Administrative Guidelines.

Ends/Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Issued at HKT 12:00

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