70% of Hong Kong subdivided flats register for grace period under new regulatory system

Some 70 per cent of Hong Kong’s subdivided flats have been registered under a grace period system that will give landlords three years to ensure their properties meet minimum living standards laid out by a new law implemented eight months ago.

Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho told the city’s legislature on Wednesday that around 75,000 of the city’s 110,000 subdivided flats have been registered with the authorities since the new regulatory regime came into effect in March.

The legislation gives landlords a one-year window to register their properties, ending on February 28 next year, after which a three-year grace period will kick in. They will then have to get their subdivided units up to standard — or convert them back into traditional flats — by February 28, 2030.

Under the new regime, landlords must register their properties regardless of whether they intend to keep running the flats as subdivided units.

Ho also said that the Housing Bureau, which she leads, has received applications for 250 subdivided flats to be certified as having met minimum living standards set out by the new law.

Minimum standards

“Most of such applications were received in recent months, indicating that the market is familiarising with the minimum standards and accelerating the pace of alteration works,” Ho said.

The new law stipulates government-set living standards including a floor space of at least 86 square feet and a ceiling height of 2.3 metres, as well as a window and an individual toilet.

Meanwhile, 53 subdivided units have been granted certification to operate legally as “Basic Housing Units (BHU)” after meeting those standards, Ho told the legislature on Wednesday.

“These successful cases demonstrate that the minimum standards are practicable and feasible, and the market is willing to proactively comply with the BHU regime for compliant operation in the long run,” Ho said.

She also said that the bureau will not take “immediate and indiscriminate” enforcement actions after the grace period expires.

“Instead, a pragmatic, people-oriented and risk-based approach will be adopted when pressing ahead with enforcement actions in a reasonable, compassionate and orderly manner,” she said.

It was announced on Thursday that Ho will be stepping down as housing minister over the Wang Fuk Court fire last year which killed 168 people.

Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong, who currently leads the government’s task force on long-term resettlement for survivors of the blaze, will be appointed as acting housing minister following Ho’s departure.

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James Lee is a reporter at Hong Kong Free Press with an interest in culture and social issues. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in English and a minor in Journalism from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where he witnessed the institution’s transformation over the course of the 2019 extradition bill protests and after the passing of the Beijing-imposed security law.

Since joining HKFP in 2023, he has covered local politics, the city’s housing crisis, as well as landmark court cases including the 47 democrats national security trial. He was previously a reporter at The Standard where he interviewed pro-establishment heavyweights and extensively covered the Covid-19 pandemic and Hong Kong’s political overhauls under the national security law.