Section A: Application for Public Housing, Transfer and Subsidised Home Ownership Schemes Chapter 6: Transfer Flat Transfers Public rental housing (PRH) tenants may apply for flat transfer after a considerable period of time under various situations : tenants may want to move to a bigger or another flat due to increase in family size or improved household income; tenants may need to live in a different district due to special reasons; and sometimes the need to move is due to the Housing Department's major improvement or redevelopment plans.  Subject to the availability of flat resources, we have the following transfer schemes to cater for tenants' different needs for flat transfer :    (I)   Public Rental Housing Transfers   1. Internal Transfer   Tenants who have genuine difficulties in continuing living in their existing flats due to special circumstances or on medical/social grounds may apply for transfer to a flat in the same estate. Those tenants who are seriously handicapped or in poor health conditions and in need of a private toilet or washing and cooking facilities may also apply for transfer to a suitable flat in the same estate.           2. Special Transfer If tenants are in genuine need of housing transfer due to special circumstances or on medical/social grounds but internal transfer cannot solve their problem, they may apply for special transfer to another estate. Should tenants in financial difficulties find it hard to afford the existing rent, they may request transfer to flats of a cheaper rent in another estate through special transfer.   3. Extremely Urgent Transfer Tenants applying for internal transfer and special transfer will normally be given the first offer within two months, subject to the availability of suitable flats in the approved district.  However, high priority will be accorded to those extremely urgent cases which require prompt relocation due to tragic accidents, acts of violence, families with members having acute health condition or accommodations with structural defects endangering the family home safety.  Subject to the case submission being in order including application form properly completed, necessary supporting documents attached and availability of housing resources, the Housing Department will arrange to make the first offer within 10 working days.              4. Transfer for Major Repairs/Improvement Programmes   Tenants who have to move out due to structural problems or comprehensive repair and improvement works of their block will be allocated another suitable flat by the Housing Department. These tenants are also entitled to a removal allowance upon surrender of their existing public housing unit.           5. Voluntary Transfer Exercise Subject to availability of resources, the Housing Department will launch "Voluntary Transfer Exercise" to assist those needy households to further improve their living environment.  Invitation for each transfer exercise is made through notice put up in estate offices and individual housing blocks.  Details of application, eligibility criteria and list of estates available in the exercise, etc., will be posted for tenants' information.                     (II) Transfer Exercises for Sitting Tenants   1. Overcrowding Relief (OR)   Territory-wide Overcrowding Relief (TWOR) transfer exercises will be conducted centrally by the Applications Sub-section of the Housing Department twice or thrice a year subject to availability of housing resources. Eligible applicants will be invited for flat selection.  However, households living in the New Territories (NT) may only select flats in the NT and Tung Chung while households in extended urban and Islands are not eligible to select flats in urban estates.  The locality restriction for TWOR is relaxed in 2005 to allow eligible applicants with over 10 years of PRH residence to choose to move to any geographical districts. Under the TWOR, all PRH households living below 5.5 m2 internal floor area (IFA) per person may apply for transfer to a larger flat.  Applicants are subject to passing the Domestic Property Test (DPT), i.e. during the period from the date of applying for the OR transfer exercise up to the date of signing up new tenancy, all household members must not own any domestic property in Hong Kong.  Applicants are also required to pass the Comprehensive Means Test (CMT) with income and asset limits being the same as those used in the Housing Subsidy Policy and the Policy on Safeguarding Rational Allocation of Public Housing Resources.  The priority of flat selection is based on the living density, family size and length of residence of households in application. The living density of applicants will determine the order of priority for flat selection - household with the highest density will come first.  Density being the same, the household of a larger size will have priority.  Both conditions being the same, the length of residence in the existing tenancy will determine.  All things being equal, priority on flat selection will be determined by ballot.  On the production of medical certificate, an unborn child of at least 16 weeks gestation as at the date of application will be counted as one family member in the calculation of living density.  The concerned household should raise its request for inclusion of any unborn child to the estate office when applying for OR. After successful transfer to a larger flat, the household has to pay normal, 1.5 times or double net rent plus rates according to the level of their household income.  They will be required to declare their household income/assets once every two years irrespective of the length of their residence in public housing.  Households paying normal or 1.5 times net rent plus rates shall declare their household income biennially.  Those paying double net rent plus rates shall declare their household assets biennially.  For households which tenancies before transfer are granted under the Policy on Grant of New Tenancy, they shall continue to declare their household income and assets every two years as required under the policy. Unsuccessful applicants may apply again in the next TWOR exercise. However, eligible applicants who fail to secure a flat after being invited to flat selection exercises for three times (including failing to turn up for flat selection or refusing to select any flat) will have their eligibility for TWOR frozen for one year. Details on TWOR arrangements, eligibility criteria and list of estates available in the exercise, etc. will be put up on notice boards, newspapers, posters and website of Hong Kong Housing Authority/Housing Department, etc. for tenants' information.     2. Living Space Improvement Transfer Scheme (LSITS)   The Housing Authority's Subsidized Housing Committee endorsed in 2005 to introduce a new Living Space Improvement Transfer Scheme (LSITS) to provide more transfer opportunities for public rental housing tenants.  This scheme runs parallel to TWOR for overcrowded families although priority is given to TWOR.  Under the LSITS, all PRH households living below 7 m2 IFA per person may apply for transfer to a larger flat.  Consistent with TWOR, applicants for LSITS are subject to the same set of eligibility criteria and flat selection priority in the order of living density, family size and length of residence. The Committee also endorsed to relax the locality restriction for LSITS to allow eligible applicants with over 10 years of residence to choose to move to any geographical districts.     3. Regional Transfer (RT)   Subject to availability of housing resources, the Housing Department will launch RT exercise in local region/district (according to geographical district of District Tenancy Management Office) to assist those needy households to improve their living environment and to trawl suitable flats to meet operational demands.  Consistent with TWOR and LSITS, applicants for RT are subject to a set of eligibility criteria.  Eligible applicants will be invited for flat selection.  The priority of flat selection is based on the family size, living density and length of residence of households in application but the Housing Department may revise the priority sequence to address local situation. Details of RT arrangements, eligibility criteria and list of estates available in the exercise, etc., will be put up on notice board for tenants' information.     4. Harmonious Families Transfer (HFT) Exercise   The Housing Department launches the Harmonious Families Transfer (HFT) Exercise to boost a family-based support network.  It provides opportunities for Public Rental Housing (PRH) tenants to apply for transfer to the same estate in which their elderly parents/offspring is currently living in for mutual care (in the absence of suitable resources, a flat of suitable size in the nearest available estate will be allocated).  Elderly parents living in PRH can nominate one of their offsprings/spouse of their offspring to apply for this transfer scheme.  Young generations can also nominate their parent(s)/parent(s)-in-law to apply for HFT. The applicant and nominator should both be public housing households living in PRH flats located in different District Council (DC) districts.  The applying family must obtain the nomination from their correlative elderly parent(s)/parent(s)-in-law or younger generation (child/child-in-law) and submit documentary proof on their relationship before qualifying for this transfer exercise.  The elderly parent(s)/parent(s)-in-law must be an all elderly PRH household (i.e. all household members aged 60 or above, single person elderly family is also eligible for nomination or application).  If there are joint tenants in an all elderly households, both of them can nominate their own offspring for transfer or apply for transfer nearer to their own offspring separately (in the absence of suitable resources, a flat of suitable size in the nearest available estate will be allocated). Each elderly household is entitled to successful application of the HFT exercise once (irrespective of the role as nominating or applying family).  The elderly household who has successfully nominated or transferred through previous HFT exercise is barred from application/nomination in future HFT exercise.  For applicant who would like to apply for cross-district transfer to a more popular Waiting List (WL) District, they should have a residence in PRH for at least seven years.  If either nominating or applying family have a child below six or an expected child with 16 weeks gestation or more, applicant with a residence in PRH for at least five years can also apply. An annual quota of 1,000 units is set aside for the HFT.  Flat allocation will be based on the order of priority in terms of the age of the eldest member in the elderly household and the length of residence of the applicant households.  The HFT application period will last for two months.  This would allow sufficient time for sitting tenants to consider and submit applications. In the launch of the exercise, details of application will be posted on notice boards in the estates and HA/HD website for tenants' information.     5. Transfer of Tenants Occupying Converted One-person (C1P) Flats/Housing for Senior Citizens (HSC) under the Conversion Programme   To phase out all C1P flats and those HSC units under the conversion programme, households involved can apply for self-contained flats through internal or external transfer.  Upon surrender of their existing public housing units, they are entitled to a Domestic Removal Allowance (DRA).  For those last-remaining tenants in C1P flats, they can also apply to take up the entire flat through Automatic Offer (AO) but DRA will not be offered to concerned tenants.  Temporary accommodation may be provided and rent waiver may be granted for justified AO cases should the premises render unfit for occupation due to renovation work. The Households joining the above transfer schemes should not carry any valid points under the ¡¥Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement in Public Housing Estates¡¦.  All members of the household should not be in breach of any clause of the tenancy agreement and the occupancy position of the PRH unit should be in order.     6. Transfer for Under-occupied Households   Owing to subsequent moving-out, decease, marriage or emigration of some family members, the remaining members may enjoy far more living space than is allowed under the established standards, rendering the family an under-occupied household.  Under the existing tenancy agreement, an under-occupied household has to move to a PRH flat of a size which HA considers appropriate.  A total of four housing offers either in the residing estate or other estates in the same District Council district will be given to these households.  If the household refuses all the four offers unreasonably, Notice-to-Quit will be issued to terminate the tenancy of the household.  The most serious cases of under-occupation will be dealt with firstly.  Elderly tenants and households with disabled members should be the last ones on the list of under-occupied household to be transferred. Households with accumulated valid points less than 16 under the Marking Scheme can also apply for transfer to suitable-sized flats.  As incentives, Domestic Removal Allowances (DRA) and transfer opportunities to new estates will be offered to the households that have accepted offers to smaller units, but under-occupied households applying for voluntary transfer exercises will not be offered DRA. 7. Estate Clearance Transfer To fully utilize the limited resources, tenants in estates affected by estate clearance may apply for thinning-out exercise.  When suitable flats in new estates are available for such use, these tenants will be invited by notices to apply.  Upon relocation to new flats and surrender of their existing public housing units, tenants will be granted a removal allowance. 8. Transfer of OR Families Living in Blocks Under Estate Clearance   Vacated flats in blocks under estate clearance may be used for OR within the same block.  When such vacancies arise, details of the application arrangement and particulars of the flats available will be advertised on block basis to invite applications from eligible overcrowded families.

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