Abby Choi murder: Hong Kong subsidised housing sale rules to be changed to close loophole allowing homeowners to buy properties after her former father-in-law found to own flat under scheme
- Public housing tenants who already own a property to be banned from buying subsidised homes, source says
- Move comes in wake of revelation that former father-in-law of murdered model Abby Choi owned subsidised flat despite having large luxury home
Hong Kong public housing tenants who already own a property will be banned from buying a subsidised home, sources have revealed.
The move came after the former father-in-law of murdered model Abby Choi Tin-fung sparked a government review when it was found he had bought a subsidised flat, despite already having a large home in an upmarket area.
Sources on Tuesday said the proposed restriction was designed to help cope with increased demand for subsidised housing and in the wake of the exposure of the loophole that allowed buyers with a private home to buy a subsidised flat.
Scott Leung Man-kwong, the deputy chairman of the legislature’s housing panel, said the government had responded to calls from the public.
“There are calls to restrict applicants’ mainland and overseas properties as well, but we are talking about utilising Hong Kong’s housing resources,” Leung said.
“I think it is sufficient for the government to first tackle the local property ownership problem, and the rest can be explored in the future.”
Choi’s former father-in-law Kwong Kau, 65, was found to have a 1,820 sq ft HK$73 million (US$9.3 million) flat in the exclusive Kadoorie Hill neighbourhood in Ho Man Tin in his name from November 2019.
But Kwong was also listed as the owner of a 291 sq ft subsidised flat at Sheung Man Court in Kwai Chung, which was sold under the government’s Home Ownership Scheme for about HK$2.2 million in July 2020.
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People living in public rented flats or those whose income and assets do not exceed a certain threshold can at present apply to buy under the ownership scheme at a discount price.
Buyers who are not public flat tenants and who owned a private home in the two years before their application are not eligible.
Public housing tenants are required to pay at least 5 per cent of the flat’s price as a down payment under the original ownership scheme, which was introduced in 1978.
A HK$2.1 million mortgage was taken out to buy the flat in Kwong’s case, which suggested he had made a down payment of HK$110,000, or 5 per cent of the property’s price.
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If the proposal, to be examined by the subsidised housing committee under the Housing Authority on Wednesday, is passed, both types of applicants – public flat tenants and buyers from the private sector – will be subject to the same restriction.
Neither would be eligible to apply to buy a subsidised home if they owned a domestic property in Hong Kong in the two years before their application.
Sources added that the amendment would also ban public housing tenants who had been asked to move out of a rental flat from purchasing subsidised housing.
Under the existing policy, well-off tenants, such as households owning a property in Hong Kong, have to vacate their rental flats, but they can extend their stay up to a year at most if they are in need.
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A source said the proposed amendments did not align both groups’ income and other asset limits, as the authorities hoped to help tenants move up the housing ladder and vacate their rental homes for people on the waiting list.
“If the government sets the threshold for public tenant applicants, those with assets and income over the threshold cannot purchase a subsidised flat. But they may not have enough money to buy a private flat, so they have to stay in their public rental flat.” the source said.
The average waiting time for general applicants for public housing rental was 5½ years last December.
Kwong and his two sons – one of them Choi’s ex-husband Alex Kwong Kong-chi – have been charged in connection with the killing of the model, parts of whose body were found in a ground floor flat of a three-storey house in Tai Po’s Lung Mei Tsuen in February.
His wife Jenny Li Sui-heung, 63, was charged with perverting the course of justice. It is alleged she destroyed evidence during a police investigation on February 23.
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There are to be 9,154 flats across six sites offered in a subsidised housing sale which will open in the middle of the year with a discount of 38 per cent on the market price, the sources said.
It will be the largest number of flats available since 1998.
A third of the homes will come from three estates in Kwun Tong.
The project in Yuen Long contributed most of the supply with 3,080 flats and another estate at Kai Tak will provide 2,046 homes.
Eligible family applicants cannot make more than HK$62,000 gross a month or have assets of more than HK$1.47 million.
The threshold for single applicants will be half the level set for families.
A Housing Authority spokesman confirmed Wednesday’s meeting would discuss subsidised flat sale arrangements and decisions would be announced afterwards.
