Three more hygiene-related misdeeds will be added to the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement in Public Rental Housing Estates, bringing the total number of penalty point-allotted offences to 25.

The new misdeeds are:

* causing noise (5 points);

* damaging or stealing Housing Authority property (7 points); and,

* smoking or carrying a lighted cigarette in enclosed common areas like lifts, lobbies, corridors and staircases (5 points).

Penalty adjustments

The Housing Authority's Subsidised Housing Committee today also endorsed three penalty adjustments. Demerit points for accumulating a large quantity of refuse or waste inside leased premises, creating an offensive smell and hygienic nuisance will rise from five to seven penalty points.

The authority will extend the issue of Notice-to-Quit to terminate the tenancies of those households that have thrown objects from height by invoking the Housing Ordinance. The warning mechanism will be further simplified to one written warning only. The new measures will take effect from January 1.

As at the end of August 5,048 allotments of penalty points involving 4,889 households had been recorded. Of them, 148 households have accumulated 10 points or more due to commitment of two or more misdeeds.

So far, eight households have accrued 16 or more penalty points. One household surrendered the flat voluntarily. The remaining seven households were served with Notices-To-Quit.