The Water Supplies Department (WSD) said today that the efficiency of its enforcement against overcharging of tenants living in sub-divided units (SDUs) for water has been significantly enhanced following the enactment of a legislative amendment.

The Waterworks (Amendment) Ordinance 2024 empowered the WSD and the Rating & Valuation Department (RVD) to exchange information, thereby enabling a more effective inspection process. The WSD now handles cases that could not be followed up in the past.

As of today, since the enactment of the amended ordinance on April 19 last year, the WSD has completed 280 investigations into suspected overcharging tenants for water in SDUs.

Of these, a total of 21 cases were prosecuted, resulting in convictions with fines, while a number of other cases are currently at the prosecution stage.

The WSD said this represents an increase of between five and six times compared to the 40-plus cases per year before the enactment of the amended ordinance. Moreover, the conviction rate exceeds the previous average of about six per year by between three and four times.

Meanwhile, with its new enforcement powers allowing the WSD to compel relevant parties to provide information or documents, including receipts for water charges or payment records, for investigation, landlords’ response rate has grown from 10% in the past to about 90% recently.

The WSD added that it has successfully prosecuted several landlords and WSD-registered consumers for failing to provide the requested information or documents.