Letters | Buildings Department’s minor works submission procedure trips up law-abiding contractors

Over the last few years, the department has tweaked the procedure for processing submissions. It is diluting its monitoring role and transforming the system into a self-regulating mechanism. As an industry practitioner, I am deeply disappointed with this development and would like to share my experience with readers.

I was once appointed to carry out some building work and make a statutory submission on behalf of a customer. After one year, I was informed by the department that I had violated the regulations as the work I had completed could not be categorised as minor works.

I certainly can’t avoid responsibility for the problem, but the mechanism for processing submissions is also partly to blame. The department should have made a clarification before I commenced the work rather than enforcing the regulation retrospectively – after one year. It not only led to a contractual dispute and customer dissatisfaction, but is also in effect an unforeseen pitfall for ordinary citizens and contractors.

Given the increasing complicated submission requirements, it is unrealistic for the department to expect contractors to be able to comply with all minor works-related regulatory requirements on a self-regulating basis.

This system effectively punishes law-abiding contractors while turning a blind eye to practitioners who recklessly ignore the submission requirements and leave no paper trail for the authorities to follow. The Development Bureau and the Audit Commission should review this system and how it is managed.

Goldman Chan, Sham Shui Po