A man and a woman were charged with contravening the Hotel and Guesthouse Accommodation Ordinance at the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts today (August 5). The man was fined $2,000 and the woman was bound over for 12 months with a surety of $3,000.
The courts heard that in September and October last year, officers of the Office of the Licensing Authority (OLA), the Home Affairs Department, inspected two suspected unlicensed guesthouses on Argyle Street in Mong Kok and on Wing Hong Street in Cheung Sha Wan. During the inspections, the OLA officers posed as lodgers and successfully rented rooms in these guesthouses on a daily basis.
According to the OLA's records, the guesthouses did not possess licences under the Ordinance on the days of inspections. The man and the woman responsible for managing the premises were charged with contravening section 5(1) of the Ordinance.
A department spokesman stressed that operating or managing an unlicensed guesthouse is a criminal offence and can lead to a criminal record. Upon conviction, the offender is liable to a maximum fine of $200,000 and two years' imprisonment.
The spokesman appealed to anyone with information about suspected unlicensed guesthouses to report it to the OLA through the hotline (Tel: 2881 7498), by email (hadlaenq@had.gov.hk), by fax (2504 5805) using the report form downloaded from the OLA website (www.hadla.gov.hk), or through the mobile application "Hong Kong Licensed Hotels and Guesthouses".
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