LCQ10: Dog keeping in public rental housing
*******************************************
Question:
The Hong Kong Housing Authority has, since 2003, implemented a one-off "temporary permission" arrangement for dog keeping (the arrangement) whereby public rental housing (PRH) tenants who have been keeping dogs before August 1, 2003 are allowed to register with the Housing Department (HD), and their dogs can continue to be kept only after their applications are approved, and they are not allowed to register any new dogs thereafter. Although the arrangement has been in place for nearly 22 years, it has been reported that quite a number of PRH tenants are still keeping dogs without authorisation. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the current number of PRH tenants who have registered with and obtained approval from HD for keeping dogs lawfully;
(2) of the number of PRH tenants who were allotted penalty points or prosecuted for unauthorised dog keeping in PRHs in each of the past three years;
(3) in the light of the cases mentioned in (2), whether HD will consider increasing the penalties or setting up a mechanism for reporting unauthorised dog keeping, so as to achieve a deterrent effect; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that; and
(4) whether HD will reconsider allowing PRH tenants to register their new dogs; if so, of the details; if not, the reasons for that?
Reply:
President,
In formulating the policy of animal keeping in Public Rental Housing (PRH) estates, the ultimate consideration of the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) is to achieve a harmonious community whereby different interests of all PRH residents are being respected at large. While under the current policy and as stipulated in the Tenancy Agreement signed between the HA and the tenant that the tenant should not keep any animal in the premises without the prior written consent of the landlord (HA), in consideration of residents with special needs, such as visually impaired/hearing impaired residents who need to keep guide dogs, or for residents who are recommended by medical practitioners to keep companion dogs for mental support, tenants may submit written applications to the HA. The HA will consider approving such applications at its discretion, subject to the principle of not causing nuisance.
In May 2003, the HA introduced the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement in Public Housing Estates (Marking Scheme), and "Keeping animal, bird or livestock inside leased premises without prior written consent of the Landlord" is one of the misdeeds that will result in points allotment under the Marking Scheme which applies to dogs. The HA subsequently implemented the "Temporary Permission Rule" (TPR) in November 2003 as a one-off measure to allow eligible PRH tenants to continue to keep small dogs that had been kept in PRH flats before August 1, 2003 until the dogs passed away. At present, all dogs which were allowed under the TPR had passed away.
The reply in response to the question raised by the Hon Lee Chun-keung is as follows:
(1) As at end-December 2024, about 1 700 service dogs were kept under special approval by the HA.
(2) and (3) According to the Marking Scheme, tenants who keep dogs without the HA's permission will be allotted 5 penalty points. Over the past three years (i.e. 2022 to 2024), the number of point allotment cases for such misdeed was 185, 244 and 264 respectively.
Under the Marking Scheme, when 16 points have been accrued within two years, the HA will issue a Notice-to-quit to the offending tenants to terminate their tenancy and recover the flat. To enhance the deterrent effect, with effect from October 1, 2023, apart from terminating their tenancy, the restriction period for re-applying for PRH has been extended from two years to five years, counting from the date of termination of the tenancy. In addition, when such applicants are allocated a PRH flat, they will not be allocated units better than the previous ones.
(4) When formulating and reviewing various housing policies, the HA would consider the social context and living environment prudently; and take into account the well-being of all tenants as a whole. Since there are large number of flats per block and floor in PRH estates, keeping dogs in PRH estates may create impacts to the environmental hygiene and cause noise nuisance. Moreover, differing opinions among residents regarding keeping dogs can easily lead to conflicts between neighbours. We consider that the current policy granting discretionary permission to those tenants who need to keep service dogs for special reasons has struck a balance between the needs of different residents, it also permits the keeping of smaller household pets, such as cats and hamsters, that pose no environmental hygienic problems. Therefore, we have no plan to further relax the existing policy to allow all PRH tenants to register newly acquired dogs.
Ends/Wednesday, April 30, 2025
Issued at HKT 12:50
Issued at HKT 12:50
NNNN