The Property Management Services Authority (PMSA) has officially activated today the countdown clock for the transitional period of the Property Management (PM) Industry Licensing Regime at the PMSA website (www.pmsa.org.hk) to initiate the 500-day countdown to the end of the transitional period. The PMSA invites the PM industry and the public to join in the countdown and together witness the industry reaching a new milestone.
Since the implementation of the PM licensing regime from 1 August 2020, the PMSA has already issued over 6,400 property management practitioner (PMP) and property management company (PMC) licences, of which 61% are formal PMP and PMC licences and 39% are provisional PMP licences. PMPs have been very proactive in making licence applications and for PMCs, currently over 100 licence applications have been submitted and over 50 PMCs have successfully obtained licence.
Starting from 1 August 2023, all PMCs providing properties subject to deeds of mutual covenant with more than one category of prescribed PM services, as well as PMPs designated for managerial or supervisory role in such PMCs for providing PM services, must hold valid PM licence in accordance with the law in order to continue to provide PM services.
The PMSA Chairperson Tony TSE said in the PMSA blog today, “With 500 days remaining in the transitional period, the launch of the countdown clock marks the progression towards a new milestone of professionalism and quality for the PM industry, providing us with higher quality PM services which we earnestly look forward to.”
Chairperson TSE emphasised, “With the initiation of the 500-day countdown , I take this opportunity to strongly appeal to PMCs which have not yet been licensed to seize the time left and make use of the PMSA’s dedicated licensing services for individual PMCs to apply for licence soonest possible so that the processing work of the licence applications could be orderly staggered so as to avoid the risk of causing delay in the application process arising from a large volume of applications submitted to be processed within a short time frame.”
The PMSA anticipates that most PMCs would submit their licence applications in the coming 500 days. If the PMSA received a large number of applications within a short period of time or near the end of the transitional period, it would pose substantial pressure on the processing of applications and this might affect the licensing work progress. If certain PMCs provided incomplete information or failed to meet the relevant licensing criteria, then they might bear the risk of not obtaining licence in time before the end of the transitional period. In such cases, the PMCs concerned might not be able to provide PM services seamlessly after the end of the transitional period and the daily life of the concerned PM service users would be affected.
Chairperson Tse added, “The PMSA will continue to deal with the licensing work earnestly and will communicate closely with the PM industry to smoothen the licence application process for PMCs, thereby reducing the risk of causing delay in the application process. The PMSA will also strengthen publicity work for owners’ organisations (OOs) and appeal to them for paying attention to whether the PMCs they have engaged are already licensed or have initiated the license application process. They would be reminded that if the PMCs they have engaged failed to hold licence after the transitional period, then there would be an extremely high risk that the PMCs concerned would not be able to continue the provision of PM services in accordance with the law. When engaging PM services in future, OOs should consider stipulating that PMCs holding valid licence should be a prerequisite for submitting tender for providing the services.”
For PMPs, in addition to offering the PMSA Specified Courses to provisional PMP licensees so that they may complete the course successfully earliest possible and obtain formal licence, the PMSA will continue to issue Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guides covering different PM areas based on the needs of the industry to promote industry integrity through the provision of more comprehensive and practical guidelines. To further enhance the industry’s professionalism, the PMSA has also been actively promoting the Continuing Professional Development Scheme for participation on a voluntary basis to encourage PMPs to advance with times and cultivate a culture of continuing professional development for providing PM services to the community with enhancement in both quality and professionalism.
Chairperson Tse concluded at the end of the PMSA blog, “Let us work hand in hand, look forward and welcome together a new milestone of the PM industry of Hong Kong after the 500-day countdown. Together, we witness the historical moment of the PM industry in Hong Kong which will turn a new leaf.”
To read the full blog post, please visit https://www.pmsa.org.hk/tc/information-centre/blogs/pmsa_20220318 (Chinese only).
Ends/Monday, 18 March 2022
Issued at HKT 10:00
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