Audit Commission slams Buildings Department for slow progress in inspecting old properties across Hong Kong

Hong Kong’s public spending watchdog on Wednesday slammed the buildings authorities for their slow progress in inspecting 18,066 old properties across the city, with just one-third of them checked and another 20 years needed to complete the task.

The Buildings Department also failed to follow up on owners who did not comply with statutory notices. The watchdog found that close to 28 per cent of non-compliant statutory notices were overlooked with long-outstanding cases elapsing due dates by up to 6½ years.

The Audit Commission’s criticism followed a blaze in a Yau Ma Tei tenement building on November 15 which left eight people dead. The owner of the 69-year-old building was issued with an order to undergo mandatory building and windows inspections in September 2018 but has yet to comply.

The department is set to issue another order to the owner as fire doors on the first three floors were found to have been removed after officers inspected the building following the fire.

The Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme was implemented on June 30, 2012 following amendments to the Buildings Ordinance and the subsidiary Building (Inspection and Repair) Regulation.

The department is empowered to inspect and issue statutory notices to owners of 18,066 private buildings aged 30 years or above, requiring them to carry out the prescribed inspection and repairs in respect of the common parts, external walls, projections and signboards of their property every 10 years. Domestic buildings not exceeding three storeys were excluded.