Local Completed Residential Properties
(HKLRC Consultation Paper)
The Consultation Paper seeks the public's views on a number of proposals to improve the information provided to purchasers of local completed residential properties.
The law currently imposes few, if any, obligations on the vendor of a second-hand completed property to disclose particulars of the property for sale. The Consultation Paper recommends the introduction of a Vendor's Information Form (VIF) for the sale of completed residential properties. The VIF should be filled in by the vendor and contain various particulars of the unit offered for sale. A vendor should be required to make the VIF available when his unit is put on the market for sale, whether or not this is done through an estate agent.
The introduction of the VIF should be encouraged by the relevant professional bodies in Hong Kong. Only if the VIF cannot be introduced voluntarily in this way should the Government consider introducing legislation to make the VIF compulsory.
The Consultation Paper also recommends a cooling-off period of three working days for sale of completed units in the second-hand market.
So far as completed units sold in the first-hand market are concerned, the Consultation Paper recommends that a sales brochure must be available from the time when the completed property is offered for sale. All information in a sales brochure must be accurate at the time the completed property is offered for sale. If developers, by themselves or through estate agents, advertise the sale of local completed residential properties otherwise than by means of a sales brochure, the advertisement should advise purchasers to refer to the sales brochure.
Chapter 6 of the Consultation Paper gives a summary of recommendations made for the second-hand market. Chapter 11 contains a summary of the recommendations for the first-hand market.
| Press Release (PDF) (MS Word) |
| Executive Summary (PDF) (MS Word) |
| Consultation Paper (PDF) (MS Word) |