Feb 24 2005
The Hong Kong Housing Society, an independent organisation providing housing and related services to the people of this special administrative region of China, has in agreement with the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau, introduced a ten-year scheme to promote better building management and maintenance on a territory-wide basis.
The scheme, which came into operation on 2005-02-01, is backed by an HK$3 billion fund set up by the society facilitate comprehensive advice being offered to building owners, grant aid where justified and interest-free loans up to $50,000 to help owners put their property in order.
As an example, the scheme has already enabled the housing society to meet a request from the Home Affairs Bureau to provide financial assistance for the owners of Albert House in Hong Kong which HKHS describes as ‘an unfortunate incident which has dragged on for a long time.’ The society has now made transitional arrangements for the individual owners guided by three principles governing the new management and maintenance scheme:
- building management and maintenance are the responsibilities of owners; regarding Albert House:
- HKHS will offer interest-free loans of longer repayment period to elderly owners with financial difficulties and any compassionate cases referred by the assessment panel of the loan scheme
- As for the other private residential unit owners of Albert House, HKHS will offer transitional financial assistance in the form of short-term interest-free bridging loans.
The scheme has come about owing to the fact that there are too few apartment owners in Hong Kong who see the necessity of taking good care of their buildings. In its recently published report on the problem, the Housing, Planning and Lands Bureau said that poor building maintenance has been at the root of major collapse incidents, heightening public concern over the problem. Despite the threat to life and limb caused by owners’ neglect, the care culture among Hong Kong’s building owners, as the bureau puts it, remains weak.
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