Hong Kong Housing Authority and Housing Department

All the flat selection procedure of Express Flat Allocation Scheme (2022) was completed. Applicants who have not been invited for flat selection; or did not turn up for flat selection upon our invitation; or did not select a flat during flat selection, will not be accorded with one count of valid offer. Their original public rental housing applications will continue to be processed in accordance with the prevailing public rental housing application policies and procedures provided that the applications are still valid.

A new phase of EFAS is expected to commence in mid 2023. Changes of Public Housing Application particulars including correspondence address should be reported in writing to the Housing Department (HD) immediately.  Eligible applicants interested in joining the new phase of EFAS may visit this website for details of the Scheme.

All flat selection sessions under the Sale of Unsold Green Form Subsidised Home Ownership Scheme (GSH) Flats of Ching Fu Court and Dip Tsui Court have been completed. Please click the following link for more details:

Click the quick link "e-Services for Public Rental Housing Application" on this page, you will be directed to the respective portal.

To enquire about your EFAS application status, you must have a registered "e-Services for Public Rental Housing Application" account. If you have not registered before, please click "Easy Form Filling for PRH Application", then click "Register" to register for an "e-Services for Public Rental Housing Application" account. You may then use your e-Services account to login. If you are ex-users of "e-Services for Applicants", you can input Public Rental Housing (PRH) Application No. and old password for the first time login. If you are user of "iAM Smart", you can log in "iAM Smart" Mobile App.

After log in to the "e-Services for PRH Application" account, select "Enquire Application Status".

If you have joined the current EFAS exercise, you can enquire about your application status by clicking "Current EFAS (2022) ". During the flat selection period, applicants holding valid EFAS application can enquire about the list of remaining flats available for selection.

Under the EFAS, eligible PRH applicants may have a chance earlier to be allocated PRH units.

2.

The EFAS is launched subject to the availability of housing resources and conducted in mode of self-flat selection. Most flats to be included for selection are less popular PRH flats. There is no locality restriction for EFAS applicants. Eligible applicants can select only one flat from the list of remaining flats available for selection in accordance with the number of authorized members in their PRH applications and the allocation standard of individual flats.

3.

As there are a large number of applicants for the EFAS while the number of flats available for selection is limited and the flats are unevenly distributed across various districts, the HD cannot guarantee that all applicants will be invited for flat selection or be able to successfully select a flat.  The HD will only invite applicants for flat selection provided that there are flats available in their selected districts and/or flat types.

Should an applicant apply for both the EFAS and Sale of Unsold GSH Flats of Ching Fu Court and Dip Tsui Court, no matter what the circumstances are, once he/she has successfully selected a flat under the EFAS / Sale of Unsold GSH Flats of Ching Fu Court and Dip Tsui Court, his/her eligibility for the other exercise / scheme will be revoked immediately.  Even if he/she has withdrawn the selected PRH flat under the EFAS or cancelled the Agreement for Sale and Purchase of the flat under the Sale of Unsold GSH Flats of Ching Fu Court and Dip Tsui Court, the application for the other exercise / scheme cannot be reverted.

If the applicant’s eligibility for PRH has yet to be verified after the flat selection, the HD will immediately arrange a date of the detailed vetting interview for the applicant.  In general, the interview will be conducted within one month, counting from the date of flat selection.  If the applicant (and the authorised person who attended the flat selection session on behalf of the applicant) fails to appoint a date of the detailed vetting interview right after the flat selection, the application for the EFAS will be immediately cancelled and the selected flat will not be reserved.  Based on the principle of optimising public housing resources, the HD will not consider the requests of the applicant (and the authorised person) for postponing the interview for more than two months, counting from the date of flat selection. The applicant must attend the interview as scheduled and complete the required procedures in person; otherwise, the application for the EFAS will be cancelled and the selected flat will not be reserved.  For applicants whose eligibility for PRH has already been confirmed, they will receive a letter with details of flat allocation within one month, counting from the date of the letter that confirmed his/her eligibility for PRH or the date of flat selection, whichever is later.  Applicants are required to complete the intake formalities at the respective estate office on the date specified in the letter.  Based on the principle of optimising public housing resources, the HD will not consider the applicant’s request for postponing the date of issuance of the “offer letter”.

Based on the principle of optimising public housing resources, if the applicant voluntarily withdraws the selected flat under the EFAS, or fails to attend the interview as scheduled and complete the required procedures in relation to the detailed vetting interview in person, or refuses the housing offer of the selected flat after successful verification of his/her eligibility for PRH and receiving the “offer letter”, or fails to turn up for completion of the formalities of the tenancy of the selected flat at the respective estate office, without any “acceptable reason”, the allocation will be counted as one valid offer. “Acceptable reasons” for refusing the housing offers include that:(i) the Applicant has supporting document(s) issued by the relevant organisations (such as the Hospital Authority), stating clearly the medical reason(s) for not accepting the PRH unit offered;(ii) the Applicant has supporting document(s) issued by the Social Welfare Department / relevant organisation, stating clearly the social reason(s) for not accepting the PRH unit offered (If the Applicant has social reason(s) that merit(s) consideration and the case requires referral to the relevant department(s) for follow-up actions or assistance, he/she must request and authorise the HD in writing for the HD to consider whether assistance should be rendered to the Applicant for case referral); and (iii) the Applicant has document(s) to prove that he/she is unable to sign the tenancy agreement as scheduled due to his/her absence from Hong Kong or hospitalisation for treatment.

Applicants who have not been invited for self-flat selection or have not attended upon invitation, or failed to successfully select a flat during the self-flat selection procedure, will not be recorded with one count of valid offer. Their PRH application will continue to be processed in accordance with the prevailing PRH policies and procedure provided that the application is still valid.

The flats offered for selection include vacant rental units of PRH estates located in various districts. Some are considered to be desirable in terms of surroundings, transportation network, community service, shopping and medical facilities, etc. Some may have involved in unpleasant incidents, while the floor level, orientation or internal layout of some other units may be less desirable. For example, units in Po Tin Estate and Tin Yan Estate (Phase 1) in the New Territories are equipped with smaller toilet and kitchen than those in other PRH units.

Rent Reduction incentives: Tenants who take up PRH flats with effective vacancy period of 12 months or more will be granted rent-reduction. The period of rent reduction is determined by the period of effective vacancy of a flat(“Effective vacancy period” is the period during which the unit is under normal letting so that it may differ from the actual vacancy period). Tenants cannot apply for HD’s Rent Assistance Scheme during the period. (Remarks: If Comprehensive Social Security Assistance recipients residing in public housing receive any rent-free incentives or rent-reduction incentives, Social Welfare Department will stop the rental allowance or will only pay rental allowance at an amount equal to the actual rent paid resulting from the rent-reduction incentives, subject to the maximum rent allowance entitled. For further enquiries, please contact the responsible Social Security Field Unit.)

Cash Allowance Trial Scheme: If a PRH applicant household has selected a flat through EFAS as the first PRH flat offer and has been issued with a "Reserving Selected Flat Offer Letter", irrespective of whether the selected flat is eventually accepted, the household will be deemed to have been provided with a first flat offer (save for cases with “acceptable reason(s)” for refusing housing offers as determined by HD under the established PRH allocation mechanism) and therefore no longer meets the eligibility criteria of the Cash Allowance Trial Scheme (the Trial Scheme).  If the PRH applicant household is receiving cash allowance under the Trial Scheme and eventually accepts the selected flat offer, the cash allowance will be disbursed until the end of the month in which the tenancy agreement of the PRH flat is signed; if the PRH applicant household eventually refuses the selected flat offer, the cash allowance will be disbursed until the end of the month of processing flat selection as specified in the "Reserving Selected Flat Offer Letter".  Applicant households may visit the Trial Scheme’s website or contact the Cash Allowance Office for further information of the Trial Scheme.

Having accepted the flat through EFAS, the applicant and his / her family members cannot request for any transfer within three years from the commencement date of the tenancy agreement. At flat selection, applicants are required to sign an undertaking to acknowledge that they cannot request a transfer within three years from the date of commencement of the tenancy agreement in respect of the selected flat. HD may exercise discretion for special cases verified by relevant departments/organization, or transfers upon demand of the HD.

Applicant who has obtained a PRH flat through EFAS and he / she subsequently apply with Green Form for the purchase of Housing Authority’s (HA) Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) flats or Hong Kong Housing Society’s “Subsidised Sales Flats Project” (including surplus HOS and new HOS flats) within three years from the initial commencement date of the tenancy agreement, then the applicant will be treated as White Form (WF) applicant in the flat selection order and will be put under the WF queue. Any flat taken up by him / her will be counted against the WF quota. Upon purchase of such a flat, he / she will have to surrender his / her PRH flat to the HA like the other Green Form applicants.

Applicants housed through EFAS will not be eligible to apply for the sale of flats under GSH within three years from the initial date of tenancy commencement of their PRH unit.

For applicants (including their family members) whose previous PRH tenancy has been terminated (PRH includes Interim Housing) resulting in a two-year debarment restriction to PRH application, they are not eligible to join EFAS within the two-year debarment period (except with special approval). For those with their debarment imposed after the application closing date, their EFAS application will also be cancelled accordingly.

Tenants departing from PRH (including IH) with rent arrears unsettled would be blacklisted.  The ex-tenant or any members aged 18 or above of such households are required to settle all rent arrears and debts incurred in the past before they can be allocated a PRH unit through the PRH Application. For applicants who are blacklisted under this circumstance, they are not allowed to attend the flat selection procedures unless all rent arrears and debts incurred have been settled before their scheduled flat selection date under EFAS. Failing which the application of the Scheme will be cancelled.

If the PRH application has been verified as eligible for PRH and the application is ready for allocation (except for frozen cases), joining EFAS will not affect the chance of being allocated a flat under the normal queue. It is thus possible that offer letter will be issued under his / her normal PRH application, inviting the applicant to complete the intake formalities (including final offer). In that case, the applicant has to decide whether to accept the offer or not. If he / she accepts the offer and completes all the intake formalities, his / her EFAS application will be cancelled. If the applicant refuses the offer, his / her EFAS application will not be affected provided that he / she still holds valid housing offer(s) upon that refusal. If the applicant refuses to accept the final offer leading to cancellation of his / her PRH application, his / her EFAS application will be cancelled accordingly.

In accordance with the principle of optimising public housing resources and subject to the availability of such resources, the HD will, based on actual circumstances, invite applicants who (i) have been invited to attend the flat selection session of this phase of the EFAS before but are unable to select a flat due to the unavailability of flats in their selected districts and/or flat types; or (ii) have not been invited to attend the flat selection session of this phase of the EFAS, to attend the flat selection session and select the PRH flats recovered/withdrawn under the EFAS prior to the end of the EFAS.  As the number of flats available for selection is limited and the flats may not be evenly distributed across various districts, the HD cannot guarantee that all applicants will be invited to attend the flat selection session or be able to successfully select a flat.   The HD will only invite applicants for flat selection provided that there are flats available in their selected districts and/or flat types, and will arrange for their selection according to order of priority for flat selection.  The HD reserves all rights in respect of flat selection arrangements.