The Property Management Services Authority (PMSA) today announced that pursuant to Section 5(1) of the Property Management Services Ordinance (PMSO), two draft Codes of Conduct entitled “Prevention of Corruption” and “Prescribed Conditions on Licences” respectively have been prepared. In order to allow property management company (PMC) and property management practitioner (PMP) licensees to comply with the guidelines set out in the codes effectively and professionally, the PMSA has also prepared relevant Best Practice Guides for the licensees to follow suit. These two Codes of Conduct will be gazetted and take effect within this month.
Code of Conduct – “Prevention of Corruption”
This Code of Conduct covers the following aspects:
- Integrity policy and requirements for licensed PMCs;
- Developing integrity capability of staff by licensed PMCs;
- Managing integrity risk by licensed PMCs; and
- Probity requirements for licensed PMPs.
Code of Conduct – “Prescribed Condititons of Licences”
This Code of Conduct covers the following aspects:
- Have to continue to be a suitable person to hold the licence and meet the criteria for holding the licence;
- Licensed PMCs have to display copies of the licences;
- Licensed PMCs to appoint licensed PMPs (Tier 1) to manage properties;
- Displaying at the property the name and licence number of the licensed PMP (Tier 1) appointed; and
- Licensees to state the name and licence number on documents.
Mr Tony TSE, the PMSA Chairperson said, “The Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guides provide PMCs and PMPs with practical guidelines regarding the prevention of corruption, and as more PMCs and PMPs apply for licences, the PMSA also issues practical guidelines for licensees to comply with the requirements in the licensing regulations. I hereby appeal to the industry to actively support and follow the codes and guides, and work together to promote the industry’s development for enhancement in quality and professionalism.”
The above codes and guides are formulated in consultation with the PM industry and owners’ organisations, which include the holding of a focus group discussion online on 8 June, whereby views from 8 industry associations were collected. The feedback collected from the consultation has been appropriately reflected in the codes and guides.
The above Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guides can be downloaded from the following PMSA webpage:
https://www.pmsa.org.hk/en/regulatory/regulating-licensees#reg-04
The PMSA will further issue other Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guides timely, covering different PM areas in order to provide guidance to the industry, including but not limited to the following:-
- Handling instrument of appointing a proxy regarding meetings of owners’ corporation / owners;
- Provision of prescribed information and financial documents to clients;
- Personal data protection;
- Payment handling on behalf of clients;
- Prevention of bid-rigging;
- Mechanism of handling emergencies;
- Managing scaffolding works to be carried out at a property;
- Carrying out procurement for clients; and
- Mechanism of managing distribution of promotional material at a property.
The PMSA has issued the following Codes of Conduct: “General Code of Conduct”, “Complaint Handling Mechanism of Property Management Companies”, “Effective Control over Property Management Business by Property Management Companies”, “Handling Moneys Received on behalf of Clients by Property Management Companies” and “Obligations of Property Management Companies regarding the Ending of their Appointment” as well as the related guides for the PM industry.
Ends/Tuesday, 13 July 2021
Issued at HKT 17:30
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