4 November 1998

Ms LEUNG Siu-kum
CAS(1)2


Dear Ms LEUNG,


In preparation for the meeting of the LegCo Panel on Housing to be held on 7 December 1998, I would like to raise the following questions. Please refer them to the Housing Bureau and request an early reply in writing.

Rents of Commercial Premises

1. Please provide a breakdown of the results of all completed cases of rent reassessment for commercial premises by percentage of rent reduction, i.e. the respective numbers of commercial tenants receiving rent reduction at a rate of 0%, 0.1%-5%, 5.1%-10%, 10.1%-15% and so on.
   
   
2. Please provide a breakdown of the number of commercial tenants who have their tenancies renewed after 1 February 1998 by percentage of rent increase or reduction as shown above.
   
   
3. How many commercial tenants have applied for rent reassessment? How many of these tenants have requested a review of the reassessment results? Among them, how many are consequently offered a higher rate of rent reduction, and what are the reduction rates? Please provide a breakdown by percentage as shown above.
   
   
4. Please list the monthly vacancy rates of commercial premises under the Housing Authority (HA) since 1997 and the sizes of such premises.
   
   
5. How many commercial premises have been leased out since the introduction of the "first-come-first-served" system for leasing vacant commercial premises by HA? It is reported that the Housing Department (HD) is going to offer the second batch of some 200 commercial premises for lease in December. What are the reasons for not offering all vacant commercial premises for lease at one go?
   
   
6. How will HD deal with those vacant commercial premises for which no applicants have made a bid higher than the rents set by HD under the "first-come-first-served" system for leasing commercial premises? Will such premises continue to be left vacant?

1. How many households in each housing estate under Phase 1 of the Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) have made an offer and paid the intention money? How many of them have completed assignments? What is the percentage of such households in the total number of households in each of the housing estates concerned?
   
   
2. How many households in each housing estate have withdrawn their offers after paying the intention money? Has HD ever looked into the reasons for this?
   
   
3. How many applications for repairs to flats on sale have been received by HD from households of housing estates under Phase 1 of TPS? How many repair items have yet to be completed? Please provide information on the situation of each housing estate.
   
   
4. Please list the charged maintenance items in detail.
   
   
5. How many applications for repairs to flats on sale have been received by HD since August when letters were issued to households of housing estates under Phase 2 of TPS? When will the repair works be completed?

LAM Pui-yee
for Hon LEE Wing-tat
Chairman, LegCo Panel on Housing