Section A: Application for Public Housing, Transfer and Subsidized Home Ownership Schemes Chapter 6: Transfer Flat Transfers Public rental housing 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. Pre-redevelopment/Clearance Transfer   To fully utilize the limited resources, tenants in estates scheduled for redevelopment/clearance within three years may apply for "pre-redevelopment transfer". When suitable flats in new estates are available, 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.           5. 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.           6. Transfer for Creation of Suitable Vacancies in Older Estates In order to create suitable vacancies at certain old estates to meet demand from rehousing categories such as redevelopment and clearances, the Housing Department will set aside a number of flats in new estates for application by the tenants of older estates.   7. 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)   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 estates while households in extended urban areas may not choose flats in urban estates. 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.   The locality restriction for TWOR is relaxed in 2005 to allow eligible applicants with over 10 years of residence (counting from the Initial Date of Residence under Housing Subsidy Policy) to choose to move to any geographical districts.   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.    (III)   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.  The new scheme runs parallel to TWOR for overcrowded families although priority is given to TWOR.  Under the LSITS, all PRH households living below 7 m2 internal floor area (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 (counting from the Initial Date of Residence under Housing Subsidy Policy) to choose to move to any geographical districts.      (IV)   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 9 set of eligibility criteria.  Eligible applicants will be invited for flat selection.  However, households are subject to locality restriction within the same geographic region or district where they are residing, i.e. households living in the NT may only select flats in the NT estates while households in extended urban areas may not choose flats in urban estates.  The priority of flat selection is based on the living density, family size 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, eligiblity criteria and list of estates available in the exercise, etc., will be put up on notice board for tenants' information.   (V)   Harmonious Families Transfer (HFT) Exercise    To boost a family-based support network, the Housing Department has launched a Harmonious Families Transfer (HFT) Exercise in October 2007.  It provides opportunities for tenants living in public rental housing (PRH) estates to transfer proximate to their elderly parents or younger generations for mutual care and support.  PRH elderly parents are invited to nominate one of their offsprings (son/daughter/daughter-in-law/son-in-law) whilst younger families to nominate their parent(s)/parent(s)-in-law separately to join this HFT exercise. Our target applicants are the PRH families with their elderly parent(s)/parent(s)-in-law or son/daughter/daughter-in-law/son-in-law living in PRH estates in different District Council (DC) geographic districts.  Nominators may nominate their elders or one of their offsprings to transfer to estates they are currently living in or nearest estates with suitable flats for mutual care.  The elderly parent(s)/parent(s)-in-law must be the member(s) of 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. 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.  Locality restriction is applicable for flat allocation to this exercise.  To be in line with the policies of TWOR and LSITS, the locality restriction is relaxed to allow eligible applicants with over 10 years of residence (counting from the Initial Date of Residence under the Housing Subsidy Policy).  Five extra years of residence will be awarded to applicants with a child just reach six or below at the commencement date of the applications period or an expected child with 16 weeks gestation or above on or before the closing date of application. 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.   (VI)   Transfer of OR Families Living in Blocks Due for Redevelopment /Clearance within Three Years     Vacated flats in blocks due for redevelopment/clearance within three years 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.   (VII)   Transfer of Tenants Occupying Converted One-person (C1P) Flats   To phase out C1P flats, all C1P households 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.

Index Page | Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Back to top |