Under the Bedspace Apartments Ordinance enacted in 1994, the owners of flats with 12 or more sleeping areas up for rent must apply for a licence from the Home Affairs Department. A source familiar with the situation said some property owners were getting around applying for licences by having just 11 beds per flat. The insider said a task force set up to tackle the problem of subdivided homes had discussed reviewing the ordinance during a meeting in mid-June.
“The review can plug the loopholes of the regulation by preventing landlords from abusing the law, while trying to minimise the number of subdivided flats of poor quality,” the source said. The website for the Office of the Licensing Authority, a body under the department, showed the city only had six such licensed flats as of June 28. The latest data shows at least 220,000 residents are living in about 110,000 subdivided flats, mostly located in dilapidated buildings in districts such as Kwun Tong and Sham Shui Po.
Such living spaces typically result from separating properties into tiny cubicles, potentially increasing the risk of hygiene and fire safety hazards. Some landlords even offer bed spaces known as “cage homes” or “coffin homes”, referring to tiny boxlike quarters stacked from floor to ceiling and partitioned by thin wooden boards or mesh wire. Many of those living in subdivided flats are in the queue for a public rental home.
The average waiting time stood at 5.7 years, as of the last quarter. Sze.
