Section A: Application for Public Housing, Transfer and Subsidized Home Ownership Schemes Chapter 7: Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) and Private Sector Participation Scheme (PSPS) The HA had accepted the Government's recommendation on cessation of the production and sale of HOS flats indefinitely from 2003 onwards and termination of PSPS. The small number of unsold and returned flats would not be put up for sale in the form of subsidized housing units before the end of 2006. The HA decided in January 2006 to offer for sale in phases the unsold and returned HOS flats (collectively known as surplus HOS flats) from 2007 onwards to Green Form (GF) and White Form (WF) applicants and endorsed the proposed sales arrangements for the surplus HOS flats. The sales arrangements are applicable to the surplus HOS flats only.     Eligibility to Purchase a Surplus HOS Flat   The HA decided that the surplus flats will be offered for sale to both GF and WF applicants with a quota allocation ratio of 80:20; and a more flexible GF / WF split be allowed during the sale exercise, having regard to the take-up situation.    Definition of Green Form Applicants   Subject to detailed eligibility criteria on age, family composition and residence rule, etc., the following groups should be eligible for applying on GF status:   (a) public rental housing (PRH) tenants(Note 1), ;   (b) specific groups with established eligibility for allocation of PRH flats (Note 2), including-   (i) successful Waiting List applicants whose eligibility for PRH has been established and who are due for allocation of PRH within 1 year; (ii) clearees and disaster victims with PRH eligibility; (iii) successful applicants of the Civil Service Public Housing Quota (CSPHQ) who opt for GF eligibility to buy subsidized home ownership flats in lieu of PRH; (iv) PRH tenants' splitting / divorce cases with PRH eligibility; (v) Urban Renewal Authority clearees (displaced tenants with PRH eligibility); (vi) recipients of the Rent Allowance for the Elderly Scheme; and (vii) staff of the Estate Assistant grade of the Housing Department holding a valid Letter of Assurance issued by the department. (Note 1 : For GF Applicants who obtain a PRH unit through the Express Flat Allocation Scheme (EFAS) launched from 2007/08 onwards, if they apply for the purchase of surplus HOS flats within 3 years from intake of their PRH unit, they will be treated as if they were WF applicants in the flat selection order and any surplus HOS flats taken up by this category of GF applicants will be counted against the WF quota.  Upon purchase of an HOS flat, this category of GF applicants, similar to other GF applicants, will have to surrender their PRH units to HA.) (Note 2: The groups from (i) to (v) who opt for buying the Housing Authority's subsidized home ownership scheme flats under GF category in lieu of allocation of PRH will be issued with Green Form Certificates on application.)   Definition of White Form Applicants    Subject to detailed eligibility criteria on age, family composition, residence rule etc., income and asset limits and property ownership restriction, the following groups should be eligible for applying on WF status:    (a) households living in private housing;   (b) family members living in PRH or any subsidized housing scheme units; and   (c) owners of Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) flats within 10 years from date of assignment, who can apply by using WF but will be exempted from income and asset limits and domestic property ownership restriction, on the condition that they will sell the TPS flats within three months from signing of the agreement for sale and purchase of the surplus HOS flats, or such extended period as may be granted.   Sales Arrangements of Surplus HOS Flats   In January 2006, the HA decided that the surplus HOS flats will be put up for sale in two phases per year and around 2 000 to 3 000 flats per phase to GF and WF applicants. Each phase will consist of one or more major HOS courts together with scattered unsold and returned flats to be included flexibly. The sales programme may need to be adjusted should there be drastic changes in circumstances. The sales arrangements are applicable to the surplus HOS flats only and in certain aspects different from the arrangements in previous HOS sales. The main points on the sales arrangements for the surplus HOS flats include the following:     The surplus HOS flats will be offered for sale to both GF and WF applicants with a quota allocation ratio of 80:20; and a more flexible GF / WF split will be allowed during the sales exercise, having regard to the take-up situation. On flat selection arrangements, family households are allowed to select flats before one-person households, and families or one-person households affected by HA-initiated clearance programme are allowed to select flats before other families or one-person households respectively. To strengthen the support for families with elderly persons as advocated in the 2006 Policy Address, GF families with elderly persons and WF nuclear families with elderly persons will be accorded priority in the ordinary GF and WF queues respectively. If GF applicants who obtained a public rental housing (PRH) unit through the EFAS launched from 2007/08 onwards apply for the purchase of surplus HOS flats within 3 years from intake of their PRH unit, they will be treated as if they were WF applicants in the flat selection order, and any surplus HOS flats taken up by this category of GF applicants will be counted against the WF quota. The income and asset limits for WF applicants will be set according to the established methodology and reviewed annually. (Note 3). Owners of TPS flats within 10 years from the date of assignment could apply for purchase of surplus HOS flats on condition that they will sell their TPS flats within three months from the signing of the agreement for sale and purchase of the surplus HOS flats, or such extended period (a one-off extension of three months) as may be granted by Assistant Director of Housing (Housing Subsidies) should a TPS owner have genuine difficulty in disposing of his TPS flat. The previous guiding principle (i.e. a mortgage-to-income ratio of not more than 40%, and 50% of the flats being affordable to the target group) and general guideline of offering a discount of 30% of market value will be followed in setting the price. HA will decline all buyback offers for the surplus HOS flats sold from 2007 onwards. The provision of mortgage guarantee in respect of loans granted by banks and other authorised financial institutions for the purchase of HOS flats will be continued. Mortgage subsidy will not be offered to purchasers of the surplus flats. A defect rectification and maintenance programme will be carried out at the surplus HOS flats to bring them to a reasonable standard before sale. A defects liability period (DLP) of one year from the date of assignment of individual flats will be offered for unsold flats, while no DLP should be offered for returned flats. The structural safety guarantee (SSG) of 10 years (or 20 years for projects in Tin Shui Wai) from the date of building completion will be maintained for the surplus HOS/PSPS developments, except that for the 28 unsold blocks, SSG of 10 years (or 20 years for projects in Tin Shui Wai) counting from the commencement date of the flat selection period of the first sale phase for each unsold block will be provided. (Note 3)  The HOS Income and Asset Limits applicable to the Phase 3 sale of surplus HOS flats are as follows:-   Household Size Monthly Income Limit ($ / month) Asset Limit ($) 1 person  11,500    330,000** 2-8 persons  23,000    660,000** 9 persons   24,400*  660,000 10 persons or above    26,100*  660,000 *  Equivalent to the corresponding 2007/08 Waiting List (WL) income limits. ** For 1-person elderly households, the higher 2007/08 WL asset limit of $352,000 will be adopted.  For 4-person elderly households (both nuclear and non-nuclear households comprising solely elderly members), the higher 2007/08 WL asset limits of $724,000 will be adopted. Details of the sales arrangements and application will be announced prior to the launch of each sales phase by the HA.

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