Landlord rights

What are the general rights of a landlord in HK? I have heard that the law is strongly in favour of the tennant.


Want to get some advice on what to expect from tennants and how to deal with problems such as late or non-payment of rent.


Is it possible/easy to evict a bad tennant.


Advice would be useful to help me determine whether higher rent or better tennant is more important.

I would say law is in favor of tenant. we bought a property end of may with tenancy which is supposed to end this July. We called up the tenant to arrange monthly rental payment and tenant never called and never paid for rent. We figured they want to use up the two months deposit in lieu of two months rent which is supposed to be illegal but when we contacted police they could not help us. We are still waiting for the end of the month and hopefully they will leave the flat and leave the key with management for us to pick up and we are just hoping that they do not leave the bills with us.Be very careful with new tenants be sure to get income proof and place of work just in case they do not pay rent.

In 2004, the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (Cap. 7) underwent many changes. The security of tenure provisions were removed in respect of domestic properties. And the requirements of law and procedures that the landlord had to deal to recover possession of a property (such as issuing a termination notice to the tenant, responding to the tenant’s request for a new tenancy or conducting litigation at the Lands Tribunal) were repealed. So the 'favour' has swung towards the landlord.


Under Section 117 of the Ordinance, a tenant must pay the rent on the due date and, if not paid, the covenant is broken by virtue of non-payment of rent within 15 days of the due date. So if a tenant is late in paying the rent for 15 days, the landlord is entitled to terminate the tenancy.


If it appears the tenant has absconded or will not be able to pay the rent for the remaining term of the tenancy, then the landlord will probably want to get back the property and recover the rent in arrears. In such circumstances, landlords are said to be exercising their 'right of forfeiture'. This is not done by the police. A landlord files a claim at:


- the Lands Tribunal;


- the District Court if the outstanding rent is less than $1,000,000 and the rateable value of the property is less than $240,000; or


- the Court of First Instance of the High Court for outstanding rent of any amount.


The landlord, if successful in obtaining a judgment against the tenant, will be able to apply to the tribunal/appropriate court for a Writ of Possession. Upon the issue of the Writ of Possession, the court bailiff will recover the possession of the property on the landlord’s behalf.



In HK, greedy landlords prefer higher rents than good tenants. This is why you see some properties empty for a long time.

Claire, thanks for the detailed and objective information. Any idea how long this process takes? Legal proceedings seem awfully complicated, during this time does the tennant remain in the flat? Is it something that can be settled in 2 months ie offset by the 2 mth deposit/bond. I guess I'm deciding whether to go for higher or better tennant.