Cafe caught in red tape despite winning ballot for dog-friendly venue licence

Homeowners in a Hong Kong subsidised housing estate will need to amend a legal land-use document to permit a cafe on the premises to allow dogs, after the venue was disqualified from a pet-friendly licence scheme despite winning an application ballot.

The Housing Department said on Thursday that the owners of Kai Yan Court in Kai Tak must consent to amending the deed of mutual covenant (DMC) under the Land Registry, which currently bans dogs on the premises, for Marz Menu to become a dog-friendly venue.

While the cafe won the ballot for a licence, its application was later denied after further inspection of the estate’s land-use terms found that dogs were banned from the walkway outside the restaurant, an area that falls under the Housing Department.

The scheme by the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD) will launch on July 9.

In a reply to the South China Morning Post, the Housing Department said: “Since the current DMC of Kai Yan Court explicitly stipulates that dogs cannot be carried or kept in any part of the estate, it is currently difficult for restaurants within the estate grounds to become dog-friendly premises, unless the estate owners consent to amending the DMC provisions.

“Should the owners of Kai Yan Court wish to explore amending the DMC to allow the introduction of pet-friendly restaurants to the estate, we would be pleased to assist in handling the relevant procedures.”