PUBLIC estate tenants have threatened legal action against the Housing Authority for charging its wealthier residents twice the normal rent.
They claim the policy is a breach of tenancy contract and are demanding a change in existing laws so that the authority can be monitored by the Legislative Council.
A Legco motion calling for the double-rent policy to be scrapped was passed last month, but the authority argues that the decision had no legally-binding power.
Under the policy, tenants who have lived in public flats for more than 10 years are required to pay twice the normal rent if their monthly income is more than double the limit for public housing.
More than 100 demonstrators yesterday petitioned the authority before members met at its Ho Man Tin headquarters to discuss the policy.
A spokesman for the Anti-Double Rent Joint Concern Group, Mr Leung Ping-wah said: ''There was no such a term as 'double-rent' in our tenancy contracts and the authority has no right to add the condition to the contracts without our consent.
''We may resort to legal action to fight the policy.'' But an authority spokesman said there was a clause in the contracts that empowered the authority to adjust rents by giving tenants one month's notice.