Review urged over change in tenancy law

Legislators are calling for a review of the amended tenancy law after some tenants complained of being victimised by landlords, to whom the revision gave more rights.

Some tenant groups made emotional appeals to the Legislative Council's housing panel meeting yesterday. They said an amendment to the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance in 2004 made low-income families particularly vulnerable because they could then be evicted by landlords more easily.

'I was forced by a developer to move out from my flat within a month,' Chung Ching-ha, co-ordinator of a concern group for the rights of tenants in Sai Ying Pun, said. The single parent said that a year after she moved into another flat she was forced to leave again because she could not afford a rent increase.

The prohibition on landlords evicting tenants on the expiry of their contracts unless they had given them 12 months' grace was removed by the amendment.

Under leases signed after July 9, 2004, tenants can be evicted when their contract expires. The right of renewal had been enjoyed by residential and commercial tenants since 1981. The government hoped the new law would encourage owners to let properties.

Ng Kam-chiu, representative of tenants' group H15 Concern Group, said the problem was common in old urban districts that were under redevelopment. He said landlords wanted to kick out their tenants to get more government compensation.