Landlords of subdivided units will have to renew their registrations every five years as part of a proposed law aimed at phasing out “substandard” homes, Hong Kong’s housing minister has said. The government is planning to have landlords of subdivided dwellings register their name, address, as well as the size of the subdivided units, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho said in an interview with state-backed paper Ta Kung Pao published on Tuesday. Each registration would be valid for five years.
See also: The infamous ‘coffin homes’ that Hong Kong’s new housing reforms won’t touch During the Policy Address last week, Chief Executive John Lee announced a raft of housing measures aimed at eradicating “substandard” housing under a proposed law. Lee said subdivided units will soon need to be registered, and then inspected by professionals to ensure they can be designated “Basic Housing Units” before being rented out by landlords. Subdivided flats would need to be at least eight square metres, and have a toilet and window, in order to be designated as such.
About a third of the city’s 108,200 subdivided units are expected to be below the minimum floorspace requirement, according to a 2021 Census report. The registration period is expected to begin earliest at the end of 2025. The government last Thursday announced that landlords will be given a period of 12 to 18 months to register subdivided units.
After registering the units, Ho said she expected that landlor.
