Rent arrears for New Territories village houses amounted to $27 million at the end of February, involving 11,607 rent accounts, while rate arrears hit $24 million, involving 10,453 rates accounts.

Secretary for Financial Services & the Treasury Frederick Ma said measures like surcharges and legal action will be imposed to recover the money.

Mr Ma told legislators today total Government rent payable for the village houses from July 1, 1997 to February 28 this year was $880 million, while total rates payable was $1.1 billion.

Some indigenous villagers attributed their late payment to financial difficulties, while some said they misunderstood the exemption criteria.

Exemption criteria explained

The Lands Department has been explaining the exemption criteria through the Heung Yee Kuk and rural committees, and has been appealing to villagers for early payment of Government rent and rates.

To recover the arrears, the Rating & Valuation Department will impose a surcharge prescribed by law. If they fail to make payment as demanded, action will be taken through the Small Claims Tribunal or the District Court.

For cases involving financial difficulties, the department will allow payment by instalments.

Between July 1, 1997 and February 28 this year, the department has successfully recovered $41 million in Government rent arrears, involving 10,107 accounts. Some $50 million in rate arrears involving 11,428 accounts has also been recovered.