The Government said today that it will step up actions to stop landlords of subdivided units (SDUs) from overcharging their tenants for water and electricity.

A joint operation plan is being formulated by the Housing Bureau, the Development Bureau, the Rating & Valuation Department (RVD) and the Water Supplies Department (WSD) to protect the tenants.

According to the amended Landlord & Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance, when the landlord requests the tenant to pay for the reimbursement of charges for utilities and services (including water and electricity charges) as a separate payment from the rent, the landlord must present to the tenant copies of the relevant bills and an account in writing showing how the amounts are apportioned, and that the aggregate of the apportioned amounts does not exceed the billed amounts.

In addition, under the Waterworks Regulations, it is an offence if a landlord charges the SDU tenant more than the water charges paid to the WSD for the use of water.

Despite the enactment of these statutory requirements, there are still cases of overcharging for water and electricity by SDU landlords, as reflected by some tenants and organisations. In view of this, the Government will step up actions and adopt an inter-departmental and multi-pronged approach to combat such illegal acts.

The RVD and the WSD will perform joint inspections in order to promote the regulations and understand whether tenants have been overcharged for water and electricity. Investigations will be undertaken in case of suspected offences.

At the same time, the two departments will conduct joint operations for complaint cases and as well as strengthen the exercise of statutory powers for obtaining information from the landlords in respect of their payments/collections of reimbursements for water and electricity charges.

As for improving the application procedures for the installation of separate water meters, SDU tenants can directly make a request to the WSD which will in turn approach the landlord for follow-up actions. If the landlord refuses to file an application for installing separate water meters, the WSD will closely monitor the water charges collected by the landlord and carry out a follow-up investigation into suspected cases of overcharging.

Separately, the RVD and the WSD will launch a new round of promotion through TV, radio and department websites to enhance the publicity of the Tenancy Control Ordinance and the Waterworks Amendment Ordinance.