Hong Kong receives over 19,000 water seepage reports under new rules
Hong Kong's Joint Office for Investigation of Water Seepage in Buildings has received more than 19,000 reports since revised procedures began in July. Officials say new notification letters are encouraging faster repairs.
Hong Kong's Joint Office for Investigation of Water Seepage in Buildings has received more than 19,000 reports since revised investigation procedures were introduced in July, the Under Secretary for Environment and Ecology said on Monday.
Diane Wong Shuk-han told lawmakers that between July 16 and October 22, the Joint Office received 19,048 water seepage reports, with case managers assigned to follow up on all of them. The first phase of investigation had been completed in 12,746 cases, or about 67 per cent of the total, she said.
Based on the findings, notification letters were issued in 4,322 cases to premises suspected of causing the seepage, representing about 23 per cent of all reports. The office has also moved 427 cases into the second and third phases of investigation, equivalent to around 10 per cent of cases in which notification letters were issued.
Wong said the Joint Office aims to carry out follow-up inspections within 12 working days after the deadline specified in a notification letter has passed. The first batch of notification letters expired on August 21. As of October 3, the office had completed follow-up checks in 828 of 1,827 related cases.
Of the 828 cases, water seepage problems had been resolved in 424. Extensions were granted in 29 cases after owners provided evidence that repair work was being arranged, while the remaining 375 cases proceeded to the second and third phases of investigation.
Wong said preliminary figures indicated that notification letters issued under the new procedures were encouraging owners to carry out repairs earlier, helping speed up the resolution of water seepage cases.
