The Hong Kong Housing Authority (HA) implemented the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) Secondary Market Scheme (SMS) in June 1997. The SMS is introduced to enable owners of flats sold by HA under various subsidised sale schemes to sell their flats to persons nominated by HA without having to pay a premium. Please visit the HA website (www.housingauthority.gov.hk) for the List of Available HOS Court/Tenants Purchase Scheme (TPS) Estate under the HOS Secondary Market Scheme.
HOS flats are sold subject to the terms of the Government lease and for some flats, subject also to the terms covenants and conditions contained in the Schedule to the Housing Ordinance and any amendments thereto (hereinafter referred to as “the Schedule”). HOS flats which are subject to the Schedule can be sold under SMS from the third year from the date of the first assignment, at freely negotiated price. For other HOS flats, (i) within the first two years of the date of the first assignment, the HOS flat can be sold under SMS at a price not more than the original purchase price under the first assignment; and (ii) from the third year onwards, the HOS flat can be sold under SMS at freely negotiated price.
Transactions in the HOS Secondary Market are done more or less the same way as in the open market. The purchaser and the seller may negotiate on their own or make the transaction through an estate agent and sign the Provisional Agreement for Sale and Purchase (PASP). To comply with the requirements of SMS, both the purchaser and the seller shall apply to the HA for the requisite supporting documents (including Certificate of Availability for Sale (CAS) for the seller, Certificate of Eligibility to Purchase (CEP) and Letter of Nomination (LN) for the purchaser). The Formal Agreement for Sale and Purchase (ASP) and the Deed of Assignment shall be prepared by solicitors. The above-mentioned PASP, ASP and the Deed of Assignment shall be prepared by using the prescribed forms of the HA/ Hong Kong Housing Society (HS).
HOS flat owners who sell their flats in the HOS Secondary Market are not required to pay any premium to the HA. Purchasers of flats in the HOS Secondary Market, however, will be responsible for paying the premium when they sell, rent out or assign their flats in whatever manner in open market in the future. This should be clearly understood by both parties when they negotiate prices.
In response to the aspirations of low-and middle-income families to buy their own homes, the HA launched an Interim Scheme to extend the HOS Secondary Market to White Form buyers in 2013 and 2015, and endorsed in November 2017 to regularise the Interim Scheme as the White Form Secondary Market Scheme (WSM) with effect from 2018.
Application Period : 25 February 2022 – 24 March 2022
Application closing time : 7 p.m. on 24 March 2022
Application form mailing address:
Podium Level 1, Hong Kong Housing Authority Customer Service Centre, 3 Wang Tau Hom South Road, Kowloon
(Applications submitted before or after the
application period will not be accepted. For submission by post, the submission date is determined by the postmark. Applications which are delivered belatedly or returned by post office to the applicants due
to insufficient postage will not be processed.)
Opening hours and location of the application form collection box:
25 February 2022 – 24 March 2022 (including Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays) from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Location of collection box: Podium Level 1, HACSC, 3 Wang Tau Hom South Road, Kowloon (near Exit A, Lok Fu MTR Station)
Online application opening time is 8 a.m. on 25 February 2022 and closing time is 7 p.m. on 24 March 2022 (Applicants must complete the application and payment of application fee before the closing time. The closing time will be in accordance with the Application System)
(Attention: Applicants can only submit application through either one of the above methods. If an online application is successfully submitted, the applicant and/or his/her family member(s) listed in the application form should not submit the application form again by post or by hand, or vice versa. Each person can only be listed in one application under this Scheme, otherwise will be regarded as duplicate applications. Any duplicate application, for whatever reason and no matter online or paper application, will render all applications null and void, and the application fee paid is non-refundable and non-transferrable.)
Eligibility criteria include but not limited to the following criteria:
Before filling in the Application Form, either online or paper application, applicants should read carefully this Application Guide to understand the eligibility criteria and application requirements and then complete and sign the Application Form (for paper application) accordingly. After submission of the Application Form, the applicants are deemed to have understood the eligibility criteria and agreed to comply with all related requirements as stated in this Application Guide.
The total monthly household income and the total net asset value in respect of the applicant and his/ her family member(s) should meet the limits:
income limit (HK$) (Note)
value limit (HK$)
Note:
Contributions under the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Scheme or Mandatory Provident Fund Scheme Authority’s Recognised Occupational Retirement Scheme(s) are deductible from the applicant’s/ family
member’s income for the purpose of vetting the applicant’s eligibility. (At the statutory rate of 5% of employees’ mandatory contribution and subject to a ceiling at the current maximum employees’ monthly
mandatory contribution, all contributions other than mandatory contributions are voluntary and cannot be deducted)
Within two years from the date of Assignment (“the restriction period”) of the flat (the Flat) purchased by the buyers in the Home Ownership Scheme (HOS) Secondary Market / the Flat-for-Sale Scheme (FFSS) Secondary Market under the Scheme, the Flat cannot be sold under the Secondary Market Scheme for the HOS of the HA / the FFSS of the Hong Kong Housing Society. The HA or the HS will not buy back the Flat. Flat owners can sell or let the flat in the open market after payment of premium. As to when the premium can be made, please take reference to the alienation restrictions on the individual court.
If a WSM buyer purchases the flat still within the restriction period, they can neither re-sell the flat in the open market nor the Secondary Market within the first two years of the transaction. An avenue for such WSM buyers to liquidate their assets in any unforeseen circumstances, individual WSM buyers may request approval from Director of Housing for exemption from the restriction for resale in Secondary Market within the first two years of the transaction where circumstances warrant. Such special circumstances include, but are not limited to bankruptcy, a significant drop in household income resulting in difficulties in making mortgage repayment, etc.
2712 8000 (handled by 1823)
