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Housing Department urges tenants not to burn wax during Mid-Autumn Festival
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     With the approach of the Mid-Autumn Festival, the Housing Department (HD) reminds tenants that those burning wax in the common areas of public rental housing (PRH) estates may cause their households to be allotted penalty points without warning under the Estate Management Marking Scheme and a fine of $1,500 for littering.
 
​     "Parents should keep their children from burning wax to avoid causing fires and severe burns," an HD spokesman said today (September 9).
 
​     Family members of children committing the misdeed would have their tenancy jeopardised. "Although wax burning and littering caused by tenants celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival abated last year, we will continue to patrol this year. If minors refuse to stop the misdeed despite verbal warning from our patrol staff, we will turn to their parents. The household will be subject to allotment of penalty points. The tenancy will be terminated if 16 points or more have been allotted within two years," the spokesman stressed.
 
​     Apart from routine checks by estate offices, from Thursday to Saturday (September 12 to 14), staff from the department's Regional Patrol Teams and Mobile Operations Unit will be deployed to patrol PRH estates beyond midnight. Additional cleaning workers will also be deployed to clean up early in the morning following the festival day.
 
​     One fixed penalty notice for littering or wax burning in a PRH estate was issued during the Mid-Autumn Festival last year and about 130 verbal warnings were given.
 
​     To caution tenants against wax burning, messages will be publicised through posters and the Housing Channel.
 
​     The spokesman called for PRH tenants' support by reporting any misdeeds to estate offices or the Housing Authority Hotline 2712 2712.
 
Ends/Monday, September 9, 2019
Issued at HKT 15:00
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