Section B: Estate Management and Rent Policy Chapter 7: Deletion/Addition/Conditional Temporary Stay of Family Members Deletion of Family Members Any family member who wishes to delete his/her own name voluntarily from a public housing tenancy may do so by making a written request. If a family member has not been living in the public housing flat for a long time for no particular reason, a letter will be sent to him/her indicating that because of his/her long absence, his/her name will have to be deleted. If the absentee fails to respond after a reasonable period (normally one month), his/her name will be deleted from the tenancy with the consent of tenant. Reinstatement of the deleted members is generally not permitted. To safeguard rational allocation of public rental housing (PRH) resources, if the public housing flat becomes under-occupied after deletion of household members, the Housing Department will arrange for transfer of the household to another public housing flat of size suitable for the household. If the household refuses the offer without acceptable reason, the Department will serve Notice-to-quit to terminate the existing tenancy pursuant to Section 19(1)(b) of the Housing Ordinance and recover the flat. Addition of Family members The Housing Authority (HA) recently reviewed its public housing allocation policy in order to strengthen the family-based support network. HA revised Addition Policy on 15 May 2007 with a package of initiatives to foster harmonious families. The revised policy is applicable to PRH tenants.  Person seeking for addition should be a Hong Kong resident but is not required to satisfy the seven-year residence rule.  The following eight categories of persons may be added to the existing tenancy upon fulfilling the stipulated eligibility criteria-  (1) tenant's spouse;  (2) newborn babies or children under the age of 18 if both parents are authorized occupants (AOs), or if one of the parents who is an AO is genuinely alone (e.g. widow, widower, the spouse of whom is not a Hong Kong resident) and, should the one parent be not alone, his/her spouse should be among the 'permitted categories' for addition;  (3) the spouse and children of one of tenant's married offspring, provided that the married offspring is an AO under the tenancy.  However, addition of the spouse/children of the other family members will not be allowed and they will be deleted from the tenancy upon moving out;  (4) dependent parents;  (5) dependent grandparents;  (6) dependent relatives in exceptional circumstances for whom constant care is essential;  (7) elderly relatives of tenants living in 'Converted 1 Person' (C1P) flats and under Automatic Offer (AO) Scheme; and  (8) one adult offspring of elderly tenant, regardless of his/her marital status, is eligible for addition, subject to the condition that there is only one-line continuation of a branch family in the tenancy. For addition of persons under categories (3) to (8) mentioned above, the whole household (including the sought-to-be-added) will be subject to comprehensive means test (CMT) for assessment of its eligibility.  The income and asset limits adopted for the CMT are the same as those used in the Housing Subsidy Policy (HSP) and the Policy on Safeguarding Rational Allocation of Public Housing Resources (SRA).  After successful addition, the households are required to pay normal, one and a half times or double net rent plus rates (note 1) according to the level of their household income.  They are required to declare their household income/assets once every two years (note 2) irrespective of the length of their residence in PRH. For addition of parents/grandparents, dependent relatives, elderly relatives of C1P tenants and adult offspring of elderly households, the whole household should also pass the Domestic Property Test (note 3). In addition of adult offspring, the adult offspring so added into the elderly tenancies have to sign an undertaking to the effect that they will live in harmony with their elderly parent(s) and assume filial responsibilities. No splitting of tenancies will be entertained in normal circumstances. In case subsequent splitting is absolutely required for whatever reasons, Housing Department will only offer interim housing in the New Territories to the splinter household. Apart from the eight categories of persons listed above, application for addition of other persons will not be considered. Conditional Temporary Stay To enable needy tenants (note 4) to be taken care of by their family members or close relatives, and vice versa, tenant may apply for conditional temporary stay of the following four categories of persons in PRH-  (1) needy tenant's adult offspring who cannot be added because of one-line continuation of family or failing CMT/DPT;  (2) needy tenant's sibling (limit to one offspring or sibling) and his/her branch family;  (3) grandchild dependent on tenant (note 5); and  (4) relative dependent on tenant. To apply for conditional temporary stay, relevant document should be produced to prove the relationship between the tenant and the temporary stayer(s).  The whole household is required to report on their family particulars (occupation position) once every 6 months and the temporary stayer(s) should move out within 3 months when the need to look after the tenant, and vice versa, ceases to exist. If the temporary stayers have a long-term housing need, they shall acquire PRH through application on the General Waiting List.  They may register on the Waiting List together with the tenant and may also join the Families with Elderly Persons Priority Scheme so that their housing allocation may be advanced. Since Housing for Senior Citizens are hostel-type housing units and are not designed for the residence of families, elderly tenants should inform the Estate Office upon marriage or family reunion.  The Housing Department will assist the elderly tenants to solve their housing problem according to the prevailing transfer mechanism. Note 1 The household is required to pay normal rent if the household income does not exceed two times the Waiting List Income Limit (WLIL); it has to pay one and a half times net rent plus rates if the household income is between two times and three times the WLIL; double net rent plus rates is payable if the household income exceeds three times the WLIL but household net assets value does not exceed the SRA limits. Note 2 Households paying normal or one and a half times net rent shall declare their household income biennially, those paying double net rent shall declare their household assets biennially; for households which tenancies are granted under the Policy on Grant of New Tenancy, they shall continue to declare their household income and assets once every two years as required under the policy notwithstanding the rent level they are paying. Note 3 All members of the family shall not possess any domestic property in Hong Kong during the period from the date of application up to the date of approval of the application. Note 4 Tenants in the following conditions are considered "needy"- (i) aged 60 or over, living alone or in household with all members aged 60 or over and the dependency is proved by medical certificate (medical certificate is not required for needy tenant aged 75 or over and living alone); or (ii) disabled and living alone and the dependency is proved by medical certificate; or   (iii) aged 60 or over, dependency proved by medical certificate and living with AOs who cannot be tenant's care-giver (e.g. imprisoned, disabled, mentally ill, etc.) Note 5 Grandchild in the following conditions is considered "dependent on tenant"- (i) aged under 18; and   (ii) whose parents cannot provide any care (e.g. parents are not Hong Kong residents or are disabled) and documentary proof is required. Amalgamation of Tenancies for Harmonious Families To foster harmonious families in PRH, elderly and young sitting tenants living separately may apply for amalgamation of their tenancies.  The amalgamated household will be rehoused to one PRH unit of suitable size (i.e. no separate units will be offered). Subject to availability of resources, the amalgamated household can move to any district and be offered new flats. Subject policy also provides that-  (1) applying households need not undergo Comprehensive Means Test and Domestic Property Test;  (2) the younger household has to undertake to take care and live with the elderly; otherwise, subject tenancy will be terminated;  (3) under the HSP and SRA, in order to determine whether the amalgamated household has to declare income/asset biennially or not, the amalgamated household¡¦s length of residence in PRH will be determined by the length of residence of the young or the elderly household (whichever is longer).

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