Stacy Shi The Housing Department is investigating seven cases of housing abuse after luxury cars fill parking lots of public rental housing estates, including new Teslas and a HK$700,000 BMW. Director of Housing Rosanna Law Shuk-pui earlier revealed that the department had recovered 5,000 public housing rental flats in the past two years with luxury cars being one of the clues in detecting tenancy abuse. Luxury cars worth HK$350,000 to HK$700,000 have been spotted in the car parks of four new public housing estates: Ching Tin Estate and Wo Tin Estate in Tuen Mun, Fu Tip Estate in Tai Po and Hoi Tat Estate in Cheung Sha Wan.
The department told The Standard’s sister newspaper Sing Tao Daily that four of the cases with active investigations were detected during earlier inspections and that it will probe the other three. Officers will inspect public housing car parks and compare the information of owners of high-valued vehicles with what tenants previously declared, the department added. But Leung Man-kwong, a member of the Housing Authority’s subsidized housing committee, said buying a car after being allocated a flat may not breach the asset limit, as a three-person household will only be required to move out when their net asset value exceeds HK$2.
48 million, according to the well-off tenants policy. “They may not contravene the policy even if they buy a Ferrari valued at HK$2-3 million.” He pointed that the department could still investigate whether tenants have misrepresented their income, enabling them to purchase a luxury vehicle within a short time of securing public housing.
DAB spokesman on housing affairs Chan Hok-fung said that while surprise inspections may have an immediate effect, tenants may ultimately evade them by parking their vehicles elsewhere. Chan proposed alternative methods to combat tenancy abuse, such as requiring tenants or car owners to make voluntary declarations of vehicle values..
