Following is a question by the Hon Ronny Tong and a written reply by the Secretary for Development, Mr Paul Chan, in the Legislative Council today (June 19):
Question:
On June 28, 2011, the Government announced the arrangements for handling unauthorised building works (UBWs) in New Territories Exempted Houses (NT village houses), including introduction of a Reporting Scheme for UBWs in NT village houses (the Reporting Scheme). According to the Reporting Scheme, owners of NT village houses with UBWs completed before June 28, 2011 which constitute less serious contravention of the law and pose lower potential risks to building safety might report the UBWs to the Buildings Department (BD) by December 31, 2012 and thereafter appoint qualified personnel to conduct inspections and verify the safety of the UBWs every five years, so that they would not be required to remove such UBWs immediately. BD will accord priority to taking law enforcement actions against those UBWs which have not been reported. Moreover, BD set up a Village Houses Section comprising 41 staff members on April 1 last year to survey individual villages and gather evidences in various villages. The Section's first round targets for law enforcement actions are existing UBWs in village houses which constitute serious contravention of the law and pose higher potential risks to building safety. In this connection, will the Government inform this Council:
(a) of a breakdown by category of UBWs of the number of reported cases received by BD under the Reporting Scheme, and the number of reported cases in which the UBWs involved are allowed to be retained;
(b) whether the authorities have compiled statistics or made estimations on the present situation of UBWs in NT village houses, including small houses and ancestral homes; if they have, of the number of village houses with UBWs which are the first round targets in various districts, with a breakdown by categories of UBWs;
(c) how the authorities handle UBWs which are first round targets; how many removal orders have been issued by BD against such UBWs since June 28, 2011;
(d) of the work progress of BD's Village Houses Section since its establishment, including the districts in which village houses have been surveyed, the number of removal orders issued, and the districts and categories of UBWs involved in such removal orders; and
(e) as the authorities have indicated that UBWs in both the New Territories and urban areas will be handled under the principle of equal treatment, and BD, after issuing an advisory letter to the owner of House 4 at Peel Rise at the end of December last year in respect of an actionable UBW, has allowed the owner and his authorised person to submit six remedial proposals, and the UBW has not yet been removed so far, whether BD has given up the law enforcement policy under which the owners concerned are required to first demolish the UBWs before they may submit applications and plans to BD for alteration works; if it has, of the reasons for and the details of the change in policy, and when the new policy was implemented; whether BD will also allow owners of NT village houses with UBWs which have not been reported and are the first round targets to submit remedial proposals instead of having to demolish the UBWs first; if not, whether BD has two sets of law enforcement policies in place; if so, of the reasons and application criteria for that; if not, the reasons for handling the cases differently?
Reply:
President,
The Government attaches great importance to building safety issue. In handling unauthorised building works (UBWs), the Buildings Department (BD) has always put building and public safety in the first place, and acts in accordance with the law to take appropriate actions pursuant to the Buildings Ordinance (BO) (Cap. 123) and the prevailing enforcement policy. In dealing with UBWs in New Territories (NT) Exempted Houses (commonly known as "village houses"), we follow the same principle and adopt a pragmatic approach to tackle the problem through categorisation of UBWs and prioritisation of enforcement.
To step up enforcement action against UBWs in village houses, BD has been implementing an enhanced enforcement policy since April 1, 2012. Under the enhanced enforcement policy, while BD will continue to take immediate enforcement action against UBWs constituting obvious hazard or imminent danger to life or property, and UBWs under construction or newly completed, it will also categorise UBWs constituting serious contravention of the law and posing higher potential risks to building safety as first round targets for priority enforcement action.
In parallel, BD launched the Reporting Scheme for UBWs in NT village houses (the Reporting Scheme) for other existing UBWs in village houses which constitute less serious contravention of the law and pose lower potential risks. Owners of village houses might report and submit information of their eligible UBWs to BD, and arrange for qualified personnel to inspect and certify the safety of the UBWs concerned. Subject to safety inspection and certification once every five years thereafter, BD will not require immediate removal of the reported UBWs during the period of enforcement against the first round targets, unless the UBWs become imminently dangerous. Reporting period of the Reporting Scheme has already expired on December 31, 2012. BD will analyse the information collected under the Reporting Scheme, and categorise and conduct objective risk assessment of these UBWs for formulation of appropriate follow-up plans.
My reply to the five-part question is as follows:
(a) As at the close of the reporting period on December 31, 2012, BD received under the Reporting Scheme about 18 000 report forms. The UBWs involved mainly comprise enclosed balconies, enclosed and unenclosed roof-top structures as well as ground floor extensions, etc. As BD is still processing the report forms, we are unable to provide at this stage a breakdown by category of the reported UBWs as well as the number of report cases accepted by BD.
(b) Since the village houses are scattered over an extensive area in the NT, the Government has not conducted comprehensive survey or compiled statistics on UBWs in NT village houses (irrespective of whether they are small houses erected under the Small House Policy). Hence, we are unable to provide the relevant information on first round targets in various NT districts.
(c) & (d) Since April 1, 2012, BD has set up a dedicated Village Houses Section to handle the work in relation to UBWs in NT village houses. The large scale operations against first round target UBWs in village houses commenced in mid 2012. In view of the substantial scale of the enforcement action against first round targets, the large scale operations will be conducted in phases and in a systematic manner. As at end of May 2013, BD has selected 17 target villages from the nine administrative districts in the NT for village by village surveys which involved about 4 700 village houses. With regard to the first round targets identified in the surveys, BD has issued some 130 statutory orders requiring the owners to carry out the necessary works to rectify the irregularities. The statutory orders involve village houses distributed in the nine NT administrative districts, and the UBWs mainly comprise village houses of four storeys or above as well as enclosed roof-top structures which cover more than 50% of the roofed-over area of the village house. Among the statutory orders issued, four of them have been complied with. In line with the established procedures, BD is arranging for prosecution against the owners in some 40 cases for non-compliance with the statutory orders, and continues to follow up on the other statutory orders. Moreover, BD has recently selected another 35 target villages from the nine NT administrative districts for conducting large scale operations, in which some 4 800 village houses will be inspected to identify first round targets for enforcement action.
(e) Under the established procedures of the BD, if there are confirmed actionable UBWs after inspection, and the UBWs constitute no imminent danger and the case does not involve emergency, BD will issue an advisory letter to the owner, advising him to rectify the irregularities as soon as possible. If the owner fails to commence the rectification works within the specified period, BD will issue a statutory order requiring the owner to carry out the necessary works to rectify the situation. Where the UBWs involved are complex in nature or large in scale, BD will require the owner to appoint an authorised person (AP) to submit a remedial proposal to BD for rectification of the irregularities. The owner can only commence the remedial works after BD has accepted the remedial proposal.
In respect of the UBW case of House 4 of Peel Rise No. 4, BD has been taking follow-up action in accordance with the established procedures, prevailing enforcement policy and provisions of the BO. Regarding the unauthorised floor space on the lower ground floor of House 4, as mentioned above and in line with the established procedures of the BD, the owner is required to appoint an AP to submit a rectification proposal to BD so as to seal up the unauthorised void space concerned and prevent its use. The owner can only commence the remedial works after BD has accepted the remedial proposal. On May 30, 2013, BD accepted the revised proposal submitted by the AP appointed by the owner. BD will continue to follow up on the conduct of the remedial works with the AP appointed by the owner in accordance with the BO.
As for the handling of UBWs in NT village houses, in accordance with the requirements of the Reporting Scheme, first round target UBWs in village houses are not eligible for reporting. In this connection, BD will take priority enforcement actions against such UBWs as planned and issue statutory orders to the owners concerned. Generally speaking, owners on receipt of such statutory orders shall remove the UBWs concerned or carry out rectification works to put an end to the irregularities within a specified period. Depending on the nature of the UBWs, the owner may be required to appoint an AP to submit a remedial proposal to BD for rectification of the irregularities, and the remedial works concerned shall only commence after BD has accepted the remedial proposal. This is in line with the principle in handling UBWs in urban areas.
Ends/Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Issued at HKT 14:45
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