Press Release

Housing Society Reopens Applications for Tenants for "Letting Scheme for Subsidised Sale Developments with Premium Unpaid"

The Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) today announced that the "Letting Scheme for Subsidised Sale Developments with Premium Unpaid" ("Letting Scheme") will reopen applications for tenants starting from tomorrow (25 November) with no closing date.

Enhancement measures for the "Letting Scheme" were rolled out in 2019, under which eligible owners of designated subsidised sale flats provided by HKHS and Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) with premium unpaid are allowed to let their flat/bedroom(s) to eligible public rental housing applicants as "T-Home".  As of 20 November, 453 applications from owners were received and 371 "Owner Certificates" were issued.  A total of 506 tenant applications were received during the application period in December 2019 and 255 "Tenant Certificates" were issued.  Up till now, 46 tenancy agreements have been concluded. 

HKHS Director (Development and Marketing) Eric Yeung said, "The Scheme serves to offer transitional housing to people in need by optimising the use of existing housing resources.  The enhanced Scheme has been well received by the community, and I trust that the re-opening of the application for tenants would benefit more eligible people."

Eligible tenants must fulfill the following criteria: 

1. Ordinary family (including one-person household under Single Elderly Persons Priority Scheme) holding a valid public rental housing (PRH) application number of the HA and that application has been registered for 3 years or more (i.e. from the registration date of PRH application to the application form submission date of the Scheme); or non-elderly one-person household holding a valid PRH application number of HA under the Quota and Points System and that application has been registered for 6 years or more (i.e. from the registration date of PRH application to the application form submission date of the Scheme); and
2. The applicant and family members must comply with the prevailing policy and criteria for applying HA PRH (including but not limited to number of family members, income and asset) from the date of application form submission to the issue of the "Tenant Certificate", and must not own directly or indirectly in any manner any domestic property in Hong Kong and not been allocated any PRH unit by the HA or HS at any time.

Application for owners has been ongoing with the following eligibility criteria:

1. Applicant(s) must be the owner(s) and all the joint owner(s) (if any) of a flat in the designated subsidised sale developments of HS or HA; and
2. One of the applicants must have owned or co-owned with joint owner(s) the title of the Flat for 10 years or above (from the date of signing the Deed of Assignment in respect of the Flat) on the date of submitting the application form; and
3. Any transfer or letting of the flat is still subject to the restrictions of the Government Land Grant and the Modification Letter(s) and the Waiver Letters(s) (applicable to HS’s subsidised sale flats ) or the Housing Ordinance (applicable to HA subsidised sale flats)( i.e. flats with premium unpaid).

Commencing from 25 November 2020, applicants can get more information about the Scheme, obtain or download the application form via the following locations or platform:

1. HKHS Applications Section (G/F, Dragon Centre, 23 Wun Sha Street, Tai Hang, Hong Kong) 
2. HKHS Rental Estate Offices
3. Designated webpage of “Letting Scheme” (lettingscheme.hkhs.com) 
4. Home Affairs Enquiry Centres of the Home Affairs Department (from 25 November to 24 December 2020)

Applicants can submit their applications online via the Scheme webpage, by post or by hand.  Enquiries can be made via the Scheme hotline 8108-0678.