Following is a question by the Hon Dominic Lee and a reply by the Secretary for Development, Ms Bernadette Linn, in the Legislative Council today (March 25):
        
Question:

     There are views that the current arrangements under the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS), which focuses on implementing major maintenance works, may not fully address the actual needs of housing estates where buildings are in good condition. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
 
(1) whether it will revise the building score system for target buildings under MBIS to include factors such as routine maintenance records, whether a maintenance fund of a reasonable scale has been set up and the past performance of property management companies (PMCs) as considerations, so that housing courts where buildings' structures are in good condition and maintenance records are in order may postpone mandatory building inspections or implement ongoing maintenance plans in replacement of major maintenance works under safe circumstances; if so, of the details and timetable; if not, the reasons for that;
 
(2) of the respective numbers of cases received and approved, and for which the works have been completed under the various funding schemes (including the Integrated Building Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme) implemented by the Government to assist property owners in taking forward the major maintenance projects in each of the past five years; and
 
(3) as there are views that given the increasingly important roles of PMCs in providing assistance in supervising building maintenance works, apart from continuously applying the codes of conduct issued by the Property Management Services Authority, whether the Government will enact legislation to specify the statutory responsibilities of the management companies in relation to mandatory building inspections and major maintenance works, including assisting in administration and monitoring of the tendering procedures and enhancing the transparency of project information, with a view to avoiding problems of unreasonable costs or unclear accounts; if so, of the details and the specific directions; if not, the reasons for that?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     It is the fundamental responsibility of property owners to maintain their properties. Under a two-pronged strategy, the Government, on the one hand, encourages and supports property owners to maintain and repair their properties. This includes the Government partnering with the Urban Renewal Authority (URA) to provide financial and technical support to property owners in need, assisting them with inspection and repair works. On the other hand, the Government takes proactive intervention where dilapidated buildings pose a public safety hazard.

     Having consulted relevant bureaux and departments, I would like to respond to the various parts of the question raised by the Hon Dominic Lee as follows:
 
(1) Under the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS), when a private building reaches 30 years of age or above, the Buildings Department (BD) may, in accordance with the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123), issue a MBIS notice to the buildings in need, requiring the owner to appoint a registered inspector to carry out prescribed inspections and, where necessary, prescribed repair works in accordance with the result of the inspections.
 
     I would like to emphasise that the legislation does not require all private buildings that have reached 30 years of age to undergo mandatory prescribed inspections. Since the MBIS was implemented in 2012, the BD has successively issued MBIS notices to approximately 9 000 buildings. About 70 per cent of these buildings were already of age 50 years or more at the time the notices were issued. In fact, the BD adopts a risk-based approach in accordance with the building score system to identify buildings for issuing MBIS notices. The current scoring system, which was formulated after consultation with professional bodies and the District Councils, has a maximum score of 100 points. The higher the score, the greater the chance a building will be selected. Currently, under the system, around 70 per cent of the score covers "building condition", such as emergency report of building defects, outstanding investigation or repair orders, or ranked to be in "poor" condition in the URA's building condition survey. 10 per cent of the score depends on "building management", such as whether the building is classified as a "three-nil building"; 10 per cent depends on building age; while the remaining 10 per cent depends on whether the building has cantilevered structures to prevent structural failure and collapse due to compromised load-bearing capacity.

     The Hon Dominic Lee has mentioned some buildings that have engaged property management companies (PMCs) or even established maintenance funds. We believe that the building management and upkeep of such buildings are generally better, and these buildings are also in a better condition. Generally speaking, these buildings also tend to have relatively fewer defects, are less likely to be involved in concrete spalling incidents or issued with investigation or repair orders. Consequently, under the current building score system that I have just elaborated, such buildings with building management and in better condition are less likely to be issued with MBIS notices.
 
(2) The Government has since 2018 introduced a number of subsidy schemes in partnership with the URA with a total financial commitment of $19 billion, including the Operation Building Bright 2.0, the Fire Safety Improvement Works Subsidy Scheme, the Lift Modernisation Subsidy Scheme, the Building Maintenance Grant Scheme for Needy Owners and the Building Drainage System Repair Subsidy Scheme. Figures on applications received, approved, and works completed relating to these subsidy schemes are set out in the Annex. In addition, it was announced in the Budget that the Government will conduct a comprehensive review of the Operation Building Bright 2.0 and draw on past experience to formulate a new subsidy scheme. The Government has earmarked $3 billion for this purpose. We will complete the review early next year and finalise the details of the new subsidy scheme, at which time we will also consult the Legislative Council.
 
(3) According to the Home and Youth Affairs Bureau (HYAB), as a result of the commencement of the new procurement requirements stipulated under the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344) (BMO) in July last year, the Property Management Services Authority (PMSA) has updated the Code of Conduct on Carrying Out Procurement for Clients and Prevention of Bid-rigging and the related Best Practice Guide under the Property Management Services Ordinance (Cap. 626) (PMSO). These updates assist PMCs in handling procurement in a professional and effective manner. If the PMSA has reasonable grounds to suspect that a licensee has failed to comply with the Code, it may initiate an investigation. Upon completion of the investigation and if a disciplinary offence is confirmed, the PMSA may conduct a hearing and impose penalties according to the PMSO, including verbal warnings or written reprimands, fines, imposing or varying a condition of the licence, temporarily suspending the licence, or revoking the licence.
 
     As part of the work in deepening the reform of building management, the HYAB is taking forward the next-phase review and amendment of the BMO. The five preliminary amendment directions include increasing the quorum and voting-in-person thresholds for meetings concerning large-scale maintenance works and high-value procurement; further improving the mechanism of declaration of interests by requiring the works consultants to declare their relationships with the contractors, thereby enhancing the transparency of the procurement process. Following the approach taken in the previous BMO amendment, the PMSA will also update the related Codes of Conduct in tandem with the amendments to the BMO, enabling licensed PMCs to assist owners' corporations and owners in fulfilling their building management responsibilities more effectively.

Ends/Wednesday, March 25, 2026
Issued at HKT 17:17

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