Hong Kong Housing Authority and Housing Department

Changes of Household Particulars

Changes of Household Particulars
The household particulars of a public rental housing (PRH) tenant may change over time. He / She is required to inform the respective Estate Office/District Tenancy Management Office (DTMO) immediately of any household changes in his / her PRH tenancy and make related applications according to the prevailing policies and procedures.


Biennial Inspection

To ensure the proper and rational utilization of scarce public housing resources, staff of the Housing Department would conduct biennial flat visit to public housing tenants for verification of their occupancy position.

Deletion / Addition of Family Members

A PRH flat should be occupied by the tenant and his / her family members listed on the tenancy agreement only. The tenant shall notify the respective Estate Office/District Tenancy Management Office (DTMO) immediately of any household changes caused by birth, death or otherwise so that necessary actions according to the prevailing policies can be taken.

Conditional Temporary Stay of Family Members

A tenant who needs to be taken care of by his / her family members or close relatives, or vice versa, may apply for their conditional temporary stay.

Granting of New Tenancy

Upon the death or moving out of a tenant, the surviving spouse who is an authorized member (AP) of the PRH flat and is residing in the premises may take over the tenancy unconditionally. Where there is no surviving spouse in the tenancy, the tenancy may be granted to an authorized member who is an AP residing in the PRH flat. However, this household has to undergo a comprehensive means test (CMT) covering both income and asset, and the domestic property test (DPT), in order to determine the eligibility for grant of a new tenancy and the level of rent payable.

Housing Arrangements for Divorced Couples

In general, we do not take active steps to secure removal of either party of a couple upon their divorce. However, if both parties cannot reach an agreement on the public housing tenancy, we will take necessary actions according to the prevailing divorce policy.

Household Splitting

  • Splitting Requests from Sharing Households Originated from the Compulsory Categories

Splitting requests raised by sharing households originated from the compulsory categories (single persons affected by clearance or redevelopment, who were arranged by HA or had chosen to share accommodation with unrelated or distantly related members) on grounds of need (e.g. overcrowding or inconvenience to flats sharer(s) brought by disputes, addition of family members, etc.) will be considered and treated with priority.

  • Splitting Requests from Sharing Households on a Voluntary Basis and Family Households

Splitting applications under this category are voluntary. If any family member has no intention to request for household splitting, the splitting application by other family members will not be accepted. However, the latter may authorize HA to refer their case to SWD for appropriate assistance. If justified on compassionate grounds, and fulfills Comprehensive Means Test (CMT) with income and asset limits pitched at PRH application levels, and Domestic Property Test (DPT), HA will refer the splitting request to the relevant government departments/ organizations for assessment and recommendation before consideration of the application.

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