Hong Kong Housing Authority and Housing Department

The applying and nominating family should both be households living in PRH flats located in different District Council (DC) districts.  The applying family must obtain the nomination from their correlative elderly parent(s)/parent(s)-in-law or younger generation (child/child-in-law) before qualifying for this transfer exercise to apply for transfer to a suitable flat in the estate where their elderly parent(s)/ parent(s)-in-law or younger generation are currently living in for mutual care, or in the absence of housing resources transfer to the nearest estate with a suitable flat.

The elderly parent(s)/parent(s)-in-law must be 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.  The above individual applications do not apply to joint tenants with kinship.

Applicant of the applying family (Applicant) should be the tenant of a PRH household while the nominator of the nominating family can either be the tenant or an authorised family member if the nominating family is an all elderly household.   Otherwise, the nominator should be the tenant of a PRH household also.  Elderly household applicants should be the parent(s)/parent(s)-in-law of the nominators.  Whilst younger household applicants should be the child/child-in-law of the nominators. The applicant and nominator must provide documentary proof on their relationship.

Household size of the applying family, including the total number of family members listed in the present tenancy agreement and the number of grade-ups (head-ups) specified below, must not exceed nine heads.  Applying families with household size of ten heads or more is advised to contact their Estate Office (EO)/District Tenancy Management Office (DTMO) for application for special transfer.  One-grade-up (one-head-up) for computation of household size will be granted to the applying family with an authorised member :

(i) having an expected child of 16 weeks gestation or above;

(ii) requiring non-temporary indoor use of wheelchair;

(iii)  being a tetraplegic patient;

(iv) being a renal patient in need of continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) at home; or

(v) being a hyperactive patient.

Granting of one-grade-up to the above applying family is subject to the provision of a valid medical certificate [For details, please refer to part (I) of Application Details below].

Elderly household (irrespective of the role as nominating or applying family) is entitled to join HFT exercise once with successful application, either by applying transfer or nominating younger household (son/daughter/daughter-in-law/son-in-law) for transfer (successful application refers to the acceptance of housing offer, no matter the family has moved into the offered flat or not).  The elderly household who has successfully accepted housing transfer or nominated younger household for transfer under previous HFT exercise will be debarred from re-application in future HFT exercises.

Locality restriction on transfer is applicable to flat allocations for applying families under this exercise [For details, please refer to part (C) of Application Details below].

The applying families must terminate the tenancy of their existing PRH flat within 60 days after commencement of tenancy of the allocated flat, and surrender the existing flat to the Housing Department (HD).  If they have rented more than one flat, they should surrender all flats to the HD.

All applications and Letters of Intention must be vetted initially by the EOs or DTMOs.  The occupancy position and tenancy of the applying and the nominating households must be confirmed in order before the applications are referred to the Lettings Unit of the HD for further processing.

From the date of completion of the application form up to the date of signing a new tenancy agreement for a PRH flat allocated under this exercise, the applicant, the nominating household and their family members should not, through other applications, have accepted a flat allocated, successfully entered into purchase agreement of domestic flat sold under various subsidized sale flats (SSF) schemes launched by the HA or the Hong Kong Housing Society (HS) or obtained other public housing benefits.

The applying and nominating families must not be served with a notice-to-quit or barred from transfer by the HD as a result of a breach of the tenancy agreement of their existing flats.

The PRH flats which the applying and nominating families are currently residing should not be included in the Estate Clearance Programme.

The applying family must not have any valid points under the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement in Public Housing Estate from the date of completion of the application form up to the date of signing the tenancy agreement of the newly allocated flat.  Otherwise, the submitted application will be cancelled immediately.

The applying family must not be housed to the current PRH unit through the Express Flat Allocation Scheme for less than three years counting from the commencement date of the initial tenancy up to the closing date of the application.

If the flat the applying family currently residing in is a prolonged vacant flat let with Rent Reduction benefits, the period between the commencement date of the existing tenancy and the closing date of application of this exercise must be three years or more (except for those overcrowded families or under-occupied households).

Households holding licences originated from Elderly Property Owner-Occupiers in private dilapidated buildings or conditional tenancy or market rent payers are not eligible for application under this transfer exercise.

Order of Priority for Flat Allocation

Batch allocation of flats by computer will be arranged according to the following criteria with priority being determined by :-

i) age of the elderly as at closing date of the application period in the elderly household (the eldest will count for households having more than one elder);

ii) the length of residence of the applying family in PRH; and

iii)  balloting by computer if the above conditions fail to determine the priority.

The order of priority for flat allocation as determined by the computer is only applicable to this transfer exercise and will become invalid automatically with the completion of the flat allocation process.

Flat allocation will be arranged by computer batching and only ONE single offer of one flat will be made for each application.  Due to the limitation of allocation quota, if the number of applications received for this exercise exceeds the said quota, HD cannot guarantee that every eligible applicant can be allocated with a suitable flat.  Upon exhaustion of the quota, unsuccessful applications with low priority of flat selection will be closed, and applicants have to apply afresh when HFT exercise is launched again.

Restrictions on Flat Allocation

The Subsidised Housing Committee (SHC) of HA approved on 23.10.2008 to relax the locality restriction of HFT exercises.  Eligible applying families belonging to one of the three categories listed below may be allocated with a suitable flat, regardless of district, in the estate in which the nominating family is currently living in, or in the absence of housing resources, a flat of appropriate size in the nearest available estate in the same DC district or a nearby DC district, so far as the applying family and the nominating family are living in different DC districts.

Note : Applicants are advised to enquire their respective EO or DTMO for their PRH residence period.

Locality Restriction

Applying families with PRH residence period less than the above-described are subject to the following locality restrictions :

Flats suitable for the family sizes of the applying families will be allocated according to the prevailing PRH Allocation Standards.

Allocation Principles and Quota of Flats

Subject to availability of resources, HD will try to allocate as far as practicable a flat to the applying family according to the nominating family’s district of residence.  To facilitate mutual care, HD will try to allocate a flat in the estate the nominating family is currently residing in, but in the absence of housing resources, a flat in the nearest available estate will be allocated.

The number of flats available for allocation will depend on the availability of housing resources.  HD cannot guarantee that all eligible applying families will have the opportunity for flat allocation.  Unsuccessful applying families will be notified in writing and they have to apply afresh in future HFT exercises.

(E)

Anticipated Date of Allocation

Offer letters will be issued to successful applying families according to their priority of allocation starting from February 2026.  The duration of allocation depends on the number of applications received and the availability of housing resources in the target districts of allocation.

Cancellation of Applications due to Refusal of Offer or Quota Exhaustion

Applications will be closed upon exhaustion of quota or refusal of offer.  However, the opportunity of unsuccessful applicants in applying for future transfer exercises will not be affected.

Income and Assets Tests

Applying families are not required to undergo Comprehensive Means Test and Domestic Property Test in this transfer exercise.  However, PRH tenants having lived in PRH flats for ten years are required to undergo income and assets tests under the Well-off Tenants Policies, including whether they own any domestic property in Hong Kong.  Applying families under Tenancy Management Policy or with tenancies acquired through Grant of New Tenancy have to make biennial declaration on income and assets, including whether they own any domestic property in Hong Kong, irrespective of their length of residence in PRH. The ten-year PRH residence period is counted from the commencement date of the tenancy agreement of the initial public housing allocation.

Payment of Rent for the Newly Allocated Flat

For applying families who are paying normal rent for their existing flats, they only need to pay normal rent for the newly allocated flat.  However, if the household income or total net household assets of the applying families subsequently exceed the prescribed PRH income limits or the net asset limits, they will have to pay 1.5 times net rent plus rates, double net rent plus rates or market net rent plus rates in accordance with the Well-off Tenants Policies, Tenancy Management Policy and Grant of New Tenancy.  For applying families who are paying 1.5 times net rent plus rates or double net rent plus rates for their existing flats, they will have to pay 1.5 times net rent plus rates or double net rent plus rates for the newly allocated flat.

For applying families who are paying reduced rent under Rent Assistance Scheme, they will have to pay normal rent for the newly allocated flat.

Special Conditions

(1)   Households with Pregnant Members

On or before the closing date of application period, if any persons of the applying families have an expected child with 16 weeks gestation or above on the date of application (the expected delivery date should fall on or before 22.5.2026), the expected child will be counted as a family member (a valid original medical certificate has to be submitted together with the application).

(2)     Households with Special Need Members

For applying families with any persons having non-temporary need for indoor use of wheelchair, suffering from Tetraplegic or CAPD, or being a hyperactive patient, one-grade-up (one-head-up) arrangement will be granted to the household upon flat allocation subject to the provision of a valid medical certificate.

Cancellation of Application Upon Change of Family Particulars or Family Size

As any changes of family particulars or family size of the applying and nominating family after submission of the application might render cancellation of the application for this exercise, the applicant should report to the intake office on any changes of family composition for his/her family or the nominating household with relevant supporting documents for further consideration.

Other Transfer/Public Housing Applications

Applying family can be housed to public housing through one channel only.  Upon acceptance of the allocation under this transfer exercise, all public housing/transfer application(s) of the Applicant and/or his/her family members will be cancelled.

Entering into Purchase Agreement of Domestic Flat Sold under Various SSF Schemes

From the date of completing the application form for this exercise up to the date of signing a new tenancy agreement for the allocated flat, if the Applicant, the nominator or any family members of either party has/have entered into purchase agreement(s) of domestic flat(s) sold under various SSF schemes launched by the HA or HS, the applying or the nominating families should report to their respective EO or DTMO immediately with relevant supporting documents for HD’s further consideration.

Elderly Households applying for future HFT Exercises

If the applying family has accepted a housing transfer under the HFT exercise, no matter the family has successfully moved into the offered flat or not, the respective elderly household (irrespective of the role as nominating or applying family) will be debarred from application in future HFT exercises.  The debarment will be maintained, notwithstanding there is a circumstantial change in the elderly household or the elderly is subsequently rehoused to another flat through internal/special transfer on special grounds.

Domestic Removal Allowance (DRA) Granted

Under the prevailing housing policy, Converted One-person (C1P), under-occupied households and HSC tenants affected by the HSC conversion programme are entitled to payment of DRA upon successfully rehoused through internal transfer or special transfer.  However, applying families (including households occupying C1P tenants flats, under-occupied households and HSC) will not be granted any DRA upon successful allocation of a flat under this transfer exercise.

Permission for Dog Keeping Due to Special Need

The permission granted for Dog Keeping Due to Special Need in the existing flats is not applicable to flats in Buy or Rent Option Scheme (BRO) estates and PRH estates converted from Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) projects.  Therefore, if the applying family is subsequently transferred to these estates, the permission for dog keeping currently granted to him/her due to special need will become void and irretrievable.  Upon the cancellation of the permission, the applicant, under any circumstances, will no longer be allowed to keep any dogs (including the dogs which have been granted permission for keeping) due to special need.  Owing to resources constraints, we cannot guarantee that the applying family will not be offered rental flats in estates under BRO or conversion from HOS flats.

False Statement or Wilful Concealment of Tenancy Changes

From the date of completion of the application form up to the date of signing a new tenancy for a PRH flat allocated under this exercise, the Applicant must report the case truly to the HD when there is a change in the family particulars or in the number of authorised persons listed in his/her tenancy agreement or that of the nominating family, or when other household members have successfully gained benefits related to other public housing resources.

Under Section 26(1)(c) of the Housing Ordinance (Cap. 283), any person who knowingly makes any false statement to the HA in respect of an application for a public housing flat shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine at Level 5 as specified in Schedule 8 to the Criminal Procedure Ordinance (Cap. 221) and to imprisonment for six months (as at the date of Application Form for Transfer is revised, the maximum fine at Level 5 is HK$50,000).  In addition, such person may be subject to a further fine of treble the amount of the rent undercharged according to Section 26(1A) of Housing Ordinance (Cap. 283).  If any person who knowingly makes any false statement or provides false information, HA may terminate both the current and new tenancies by virtue of its powers conferred under the Housing Ordinance irrespective of whether he/she shall be prosecuted or convicted of the relevant offence.

Vacant Possession of Existing Flats

Households who have successfully applied for transfer should deliver up vacant possession of the existing rental flats to the HD within the period specified by the Department.

Enquiries

For enquiries, please contact the respective EOs or DTMOs.