Editorial | Hong Kong landlords must pay for misery of others
- Tougher measures to tackle Hong Kong’s notorious subdivided flats are long overdue, but will have to be handled with care
Landlords in charge of Hong Kong’s notorious subdivided flats have been put on notice that their properties will need to meet minimum standards before they can be rented out. Measures set out in John Lee Ka-chiu’s policy address are to be welcomed, but authorities must carefully consider implementation and enforcement to ensure such small places do not remain an oversized problem.
The chief executive announced plans to set up a task force that will work over the coming 10 months to define conditions for subdivided flats – cheap homes formed when larger properties are carved into cubicles that often pose hygiene and fire safety hazards.
Lee on Wednesday said that while “most landlords are after profits”, rental earnings must be made “reasonably, not exploitatively” and a “barrier” was warranted to weed out such practices.
Also referred to as “cage homes”, the sometimes coffin-sized spaces have been a residential scourge for decades. They have also drawn unwanted international attention about housing in one of the world’s most expensive cities.
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A glimpse inside Hong Kong’s notorious subdivided homes
Stories and multimedia reports by the Post showcasing the problem are among items most widely shared by readers. Successive administrations have tried to tackle the problem, but the lack of progress has caught the attention of the central government.
