Section A: Application for Public Housing, Transfer and Subsidized Home Ownership Schemes Chapter 1: Application for Public Rental Housing Waiting List The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) maintains a Waiting List (WL) to provide public rental housing (PRH) to eligible applicants. PRH estates in Hong Kong are located in four districts (i.e. Urban, Extended Urban, New Territories and Islands), however, flats in Urban with limited supply are always welcomed by applicants. To balance the supply and demand of PRH in Urban District and to avoid prolonged waiting of applicants so as to speed up flat allocation, applicants holding applications with registration date or equivalent registration date after 30 September 2006 can only opt for public housing in the non-urban districts such as Extended Urban (including Tung Chung, Shatin, Ma On Shan, Tsuen Wan, Kwai Chung, Tsing Yi and Tseung Kwan O), New Territories (including Tin Shui Wai, Tai Po, Fanling, Sheung Shui, Yuen Long and Tuen Mun) and Islands (excluding Tung Chung).  Nevertheless, applicants who join the Single Elderly Persons Priority Scheme, Elderly Persons Priority Scheme, the Families with Elderly Persons Priority Scheme and applicants of the Harmonious Families Priority Scheme who opt to live under one roof with elderly member(s) may apply for public housing in any district of their choice. According to prevailing allocation policy of PRH, public housing resources are allocated strictly in accordance with the relative priority of the applications on the WL to uphold the principle of rational allocation. Whereas allocation for one-person non-elderly applicants under the Quota and Points (QPS) System is based on the points they scored and the quota, the higher the points the applicants score, the higher priority for allocation.  Therefore, applicants cannot request for early allocation. However, if applicants can produce documents (e.g. Eviction Order issued by the Lands Tribunal and the tenancy agreement was signed before the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance came into effect on 9 July 2004, except the order issued due to the breach of tenancy condition(s)) to prove that they will shortly be evicted from his/her present abode, and provided that their application satisfies all the eligibility criteria and he/she is due for flat allocation within one year, the Housing Department will accord priority in processing the applications. For equitable distribution of public housing resources, PRH are allocated to applicants by random computer batching according to family size and allocation standards depending on resources available when they are due for their turn of allocation. Eligible applicants are entitled to three housing offers (one at a time). Refusal of all the housing offers without acceptable reasons will result to cancellation of the application concerned. Applicants with their application cancelled for refusing PRH offers can appeal in writing within 15 days from the date of the notification letter of cancellation. These applicants are only allowed to re-apply one year after the cancellation date of the application. Applicants who have special request for allocation of PRH (for example, a specific area in their district of choice or specific type of flats) who can provide recommendation on the request from concerned Government Department (e.g. the Social Welfare Department) or organization (e.g. the Hospital Authority). The Housing Department with regard to individual circumstances and available resources, will arrange allocation of PRH as recommended for the applicants as far as possible. The age limit for allocation of Housing for Senior Citizens units has been lifted, eligible one-person non-elderly applicants and ordinary families with two persons may also be offered one-person or two-person units of Housing for Senior Citizens respectively.  To speed up the PRH allocation, flats in estates to be completed or flats under refurbishment will be allocated to eligible applicants in advance. Ex-tenants and authorized persons aged 18 or above as at the date of PRH tenancy termination, except for interim housing (IH) licencees, whose tenancies are terminated due to the violation of the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement in Public Housing Estates or the conditions of the tenancy agreement with the Notice-to quit expired on or after 1 January 2006, will be barred from making fresh WL applications for two years.  Their applications already registered including those from IH licensees will be frozen for two years from the date of termination of the tenancy concerned which will not be counted as the waiting time (waiting time points will not be earned by QPS applicants during the frozen period).  Upon rehousing to PRH, they will not be offered a flat of better quality, in respect of geographical locality, age of building and floor level than their previous abode in PRH.  If an applicant has failed to clear the rent arrears on departure from the previous PRH flat upon termination of tenancy, the tenant or authorized persons aged 18 or above are required to settle all the rent arrears and debts incurred to the HA in the past before being offered a new PRH allocation. Upon the applicants' acceptance of offer of PRH, their application concerned will be automatically cancelled at once. The applicants cannot request for alternative allocation with the same application.           1. Applications by Ordinary Families   a. Eligibility     i. The applicant must be 18 years of age or over. The applicant and his/her family members must be residing in Hong Kong and have the right to land in Hong Kong without subject to any conditions of stay (except for conditions concerning a limit of stay). Family members who are not living and have not landed in Hong Kong cannot be included in the application.               ii. A person under 18 years of age must apply together with his/her parents or legal guardian.               iii. The relationship between the applicant and the other family members must be either husband and wife, parents, children, grandparents, grandchildren, unmarried brothers and sisters or other dependent relatives who are willing to live with the applicant.               iv. All married family members included in the application must apply together with their spouse (except for divorcee, widow/widower or spouse who is not living and has not landed in Hong Kong).               v. Only one of the married children of the applicant may be included in the application.               vi. At the time of allocation, at least half of the family members included in the application must have lived in Hong Kong for seven years and are still living in Hong Kong. Under the following circumstances, all children under the age of 18 are deemed to have fulfilled the seven-year requirement :   regardless of their place of birth and one of their parents having lived in Hong Kong for seven years; or                   with established Hong Kong birth status as permanent resident.               vii. The applicant or his/her family members must not         own or co-own any domestic property;                 have entered into any agreement to purchase a domestic property;                 own more than 50% share in a company which owns domestic properties, at the time of registration up to the time when a tenancy agreement is signed upon allocation of PRH.                 Domestic property includes any post-war domestic property, uncompleted private domestic property, uncontrolled or self-occupied pre-war domestic property, roof top structure approved by the Building Authority, domestic building lots and Small House Grants in Hong Kong.       viii. The total monthly income and current net assets value of the applicant and his/her family members must not exceed the maximum income and total net assets value limits as laid down by the HA.  Such limits are subject to annual review.  At the time of filing an application and attending the interview to determine eligibility for PRH allocation, the applicant and family members must declare their income (deduction of 5% of income is allowed for employee's statutory contribution to the Mandatory Provident Fund or Provident Fund) and produce employment and salary certificates in the specified format as required by the HA.  If they are self-employed, they have to produce documentary proof such as the Business Registration Certificate (photocopy), Trading and Profit and Loss Accounts, Balance Sheets, tax returns, receipts and records of business transactions for vetting.               ix. The applicant and his/her family members must declare the assets they own, including :           Land (land in and outside Hong Kong);         Landed properties (e.g. completed and pre-sale domestic, commercial and industrial properties, car parks and landed properties under Agreements for Sale and Purchase in and outside Hong Kong);         Vehicles (e.g. private and commercial vehicles);         Transferable vehicles licences (e.g. taxi and public light bus licences);         Investments (e.g. mutual fund, unit trust fund, shares, deposits with brokers, commodity futures, paper gold, certificates of deposit, insurance plans and bonds, etc);         Business undertakings (e.g. interest in business of sole proprietorship, partnership or limited companies and the various types of assets owned by the business);         Bank deposits and cash in hand (e.g. current and fixed bank deposits in Hong Kong and foreign currencies and cash in hand in the amount of HK$5,000 or above).         The applicant and his/her family member owning assets must produce documentary proof for inspection.       x. New application from the whole household of existing PRH tenants will not be accepted.       xi. Ex-owners / ex-joint owners or former recipients of various subsidised home ownership schemes such as Home Ownership Scheme / Private Sector Participation Scheme, Mortgage Subsidy Scheme, Buy or Rent Option Scheme, Tenants Purchase Scheme, Home Purchase Loan Scheme and Home Assistance Loan Scheme are not allowed to apply for PRH. However, the Housing Department (HD) may grant special consideration to their application in the following circumstances subject to their fulfilment of other PRH eligibility criteria :         bankruptcy;                 financial hardship resulting in need for Comprehensive Social Security Assistance;                 adverse changes to family circumstances such as divorce, death of bread-winner, etc;                 a significant drop in household income resulting in difficulties in financing the home purchase; or                 households beset with medical and social problems but not to the extent to qualify for compassionate rehousing.                 Applicants should submit supporting documents for consideration by the HD.       xii. Family members of various subsidized home ownership schemes are permitted to apply provided that their names have been deleted from the relevant records and subject to the fulfilment of other PRH eligibility criteria.               xiii. Purchasers of flats under the Home Ownership Scheme/Private Sector Participation Scheme, Buy or Rent Option Scheme and Tenants Purchase Scheme who have rescinded the Agreement for Sale and Purchase can only apply for registration on the WL after execution of the Cancellation Agreement, subject to the fulfilment of other PRH eligibility criteria.               xiv. Arrangements for processing divorce cases of WL applicants:         Upon divorce, the party with the custody of children has the priority right to retain the original application if consent on the ownership of the application cannot be reached by both parties to the divorce;                 If the other party, irrespective of whether he/she gets the custody of any child, is still in need of PRH and can fulfil all WL eligibility criteria, a fresh application will be accepted with the registered date equivalent to that of the original application;                 The same arrangement will also apply before the Decree Absolute is issued on condition that an agreement on the custody of children can be reached by both parties to the divorce and documentary proof showing that the relevant divorce proceedings are in progress can be produced.  Offer of PRH flats to such eligible applicants will be made in the form of conditional tenancies upon confirmation of their eligibility for PRH allocation.           2. Application by Elderly Persons   The Department has introduced a number of housing schemes, under which public housing is provided for the elderly on a priority basis. Under normal circumstances, eligible applicants under the schemes can have their waiting time shortened or enjoy special allocation arrangements.             Single Elderly Persons Priority Scheme   a. Eligibility     i. The applicant must be 58 years of age or over, and must have attained the age of 60 and have lived in Hong Kong for seven years and is still living in Hong Kong at the time of flat allocation.               ii. The total monthly income and net assets value of the applicant must not exceed the maximum income and total net assets value limits as laid down by the HA.               iii. The applicant has to meet all eligibility criteria applicable to ordinary families.             b. Addition of Family Member     A single elderly applicant may apply for addition of family members to become qualified as an ordinary family applicant on the WL. Half of the waiting time accumulated in the one-person line, up to a maximum of three years, will be credited to the family application. After adjusting the waiting time, a registration date equivalent to that of a family application will be computed. This registration date will serve as a reference for the subsequent allocation and application of the relevant public housing application policies.              Elderly Persons Priority Scheme   a. Eligibility     i. Two or more elderly persons who undertake to live together upon flat allocation are eligible to apply. For unrelated members, they are required to sign the application form together.               ii. All of them must be 58 years of age or over at the time of filing in their application and must have attained the age of 60 by the time of flat allocation.               iii. The total household income and current net assets value of the elderly persons must not exceed the maximum income and total net assets value limits as laid down by the HA.               iv. The applicant and household members have to meet all respective eligibility criteria applicable to ordinary families.                       Harmonious Families Priority Scheme Starting from January 2009, the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) has implemented an enhanced housing arrangement for members of families with elderly persons to foster harmonious families.  Under the new arrangement, the Families with Elderly Persons Priority Scheme and the Special Scheme for Families with Elderly Persons of the Waiting List (WL) applications are replaced by the Harmonious Families Priority Scheme (HFPS).       Under the HFPS, the applying families may opt to live in one flat or two nearby flats according to their choice of district and the number of flats available for their family situations.   (A) For options to live with the elderly person(s) in one flat   Eligibility     1. The applicant's family must consist of at least two members with one of them being the elderly parent or dependant relative.  The applicants may apply for a flat in any WL District and their allocation can be advanced by six months.               2. At the time of application, the elderly person must have reached the age of 60 and is willing to live with the other member(s).               3. The family has to meet all eligibility criteria applicable to ordinary families.           Flat Allocation Irrespective of whether the elderly or another mature family member is the applicant, both of them have to sign an undertaking at the time of investigation to the effect that the latter would live together with and take care of the elderly. The tenancy so granted may be terminated if the latter member is subsequently found to have failed in complying with this rule.       To better utilize valuable public housing resources, the HD allocates to eligible applicants flats in estates to be completed or flats under refurbishment. Signing-up of tenancy agreement and physical intake for the flat will be arranged upon completion of the estate or refurbishment work. Applicants who have accepted flat allocated in advance cannot request alternative allocation.           (B) For options to live in two nearby flats   Eligibility     1. The applicant's family must be a nuclear family plus at least one elderly parent or dependant relative.  They may jointly apply for two separate but nearby flats in the non-Urban WL District in one or two applications and their allocation can also be advanced by six months. (Two public rental housing flats in the same District Council district will be allocated subject to the availability of suitable resources.)               2. At the time of application, the elderly person must have reached the age of 60.               3. The family has to meet all eligible criteria applicable to ordinary families.             Flat Allocation Investigation of the elderly parent(s)/dependent relative(s)'s application will be advanced should the application of the young family mature first. Upon allocation of public housing flats, the young family should take care of the elderly parent(s)/dependent relative(s). The tenancy so granted may be terminated if the young family is subsequently found to have failed in complying this rule .       To better utilize valuable public housing resources, the HD allocates to eligible applicants flats in estates to be completed or flats under refurbishment. Signing-up of tenancy agreement and physical intake for the flat will be arranged upon completion of the estate or refurbishment work. Applicants who have accepted flat allocated in advance cannot request alternative allocation.           3. Application by Non-elderly One-Person Applicants   The HA's Subsidized Housing Committee endorsed the establishment of an annual quota for non-elderly one-person applicants and a points system to accord priority to applicants of higher age on 29 September 2005.     a. Eligibility     i. The total monthly income and current net assets value of the applicant must not exceed the limits laid down by the HA.               ii. The applicant has to meet all appropriate eligibility criteria applicable to ordinary families.             iii. The priority of non-elderly one-person applicants on the WL will be determined according to the points received.  The more points the applicant gets, the earlier applicant will be offered a flat, upon fulfilling other PRH eligibility criteria.             b. Points System     Points will be allotted basing on an applicant's age when his/her application is registered.  Under the Points System, zero point will be given to applicants aged 18 and three points will be added for every year of age.  Applicants aged 19 will get three points.  Those at 20 will get six points and so forth.  Applicants who are 59 of age will be allotted 123 points. For applicants living in PRH, including rental housing operated by the Hong Kong Housing Society, 30 points will be deducted. Applicants will be given an additional point for one more month on the WL.             c. Addition of Family Members     Non-elderly one-person WL applicants may apply for addition of family members in order to be qualified as an ordinary family on the WL.  Half of the waiting time as a non-elderly one-person applicant will be credited to the application, up to a maximum of 18 months.  After adjusting the waiting time, a registration date equivalent to that of a family application will be computed.  This registration date will serve as a reference for the subsequent allocation and application of the relevant public housing application policies.          d. Family Applicant Switching to Non-elderly One-person     Family applicants switching to non-elderly one-person applications will be subject to the Points System immediately.  The applicant's age at the time of submitting the original family applications will form the basis for calculating the points.  Their accumulated waiting time can be carried in full to the one-person application category.         e. Flat Allocation     Allocation of public housing units is handled strictly in accordance with the priority of the applications on the WL and the applicant's choice of district or based on the quota set and the relative priority determined by points scored by non-elderly one-person applicants,the higher the points the applicants score, the higher the priority for allocation. One-person units will be allocated to eligible applicants.  However, due to limited resources, applicants cannot insist on the allocation of a specific type of one-person flats.  Non-elderly one-person applicants who reach the age of 60 by the time of allocation may be processed under the Single Elderly Persons Priority Scheme.  The age limit for allocation of Housing for Senior Citizens units has been lifted.  Non-elderly one-person applicants may also be offered a one-person Housing for Senior Citizens unit.             4. Express Flat Allocation Scheme (EFAS)   This Scheme is launched once in a year.  HD will issue invitation letters to all target applicants, including those applicants not due for vetting of eligibilities.             a. Aim of the scheme     i. To speed up the allocation of less popular flats and thus reduce the vacancy rate.               ii. To provide an avenue for fast-track access to PRH for the waiting list applicants.             b. Eligibility     i. The applicant must possess valid WL application.               ii. The applicant and his/her family members have to fulfill the seven-year residence rule.               iii. The WL application of the applicant must satisfy the stipulated date of registration or equivalent date of registration of the EFAS exercise.               iv. The WL application still holds a valid chance of offer.             c. Highlights of the EFAS       Home > Residential Properties > Public Rental Housing > Rent a Flat > Express Flat Allocation Scheme

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