Proposed Licensing of Property Management Companies and Practitioners The Home Affairs Department appointed Deloitte Consulting last year to carry out a study and to propose regulatory framework to facilitate professional property management services. The Council was invited by Deloitte to attend a Discussion Workshop which was held on March 3 together with other related professional institutes including HKIH, CIH, HMRB, HKIFM, HKIREA and HKAPMC. Deloitte briefed attendants the outline of the consultancy study and its preliminary recommendations. Dick Kwok, Charles Hung and I attended the workshop. A brief summary of Deloitte’s proposal is appended below for members’ reference. 1. Mandatory system is introduced to regulate both property management companies and practitioners through a so call "registration" and "licensing" scheme. 2. Minimum requirements proposed for a "registered" individual will be HKCEE graduate with three years of experience, whereas for a "licensed" individual will be Higher Diploma graduates or above with sevens years of experience. Direct entry will be provided for both "registered" and "licensed" individuals if candidates possess professional qualifications such as HKIS, HKIH, CIH, RPHM, HKIFM, HKIREA and ISCM. 3. No particular entry requirement, except to commit compliance with a code of conduct, was required for a "registered" company providing property management services although they are subject to a threshold of managing a maximum of 500 units. Whereas for a "licensed" company, at least one director and one employee per 2000 units must be a "licensed" individual, and the company must be in operation for more than 3 years. 4. Three options were proposed in respect of setting up the future "Regulatory Body" including an independent body, government-operated body or body embedded in existing professional association. Written comments were sent to Deloitte on March 17 raising the Institute’s concern on some of the key issues. An abstract of these comments was summarized as follows: 1. Licensing and registering of property management companies are generally supported. However, all service providers including single-owned building management organizations, incorporated owners, NGO, etc. must also be included under this new regulatory framework. Small companies shall also be "licensed" without exception although they may be subject to a "registered" grace period as a transitional arrangement. 2. As professional property managers are already regulated by their own professional institutes, further "licensing" of individual appears as a "Bell and Brace" job. Owing to the nature of property management which are collaborated from collective effort of various subcontractor/subordinates, and added to it the wide spectrum of works and different specialists involved, "licensing" of an unequivocal responsible individual appears extremely difficult and impossible. 3. If the government aims to tackle the existing management problems which mostly are derived from aging buildings and buildings in disrepair without proper property management services, a new regulatory model is definitely not a panacea. Whilst offering little catalyst for improving the quality, the new licesing regime will conversely escalate the costs of providing property management services. The Council will keep members continuously updated of any further development of this proposal. A New Producer Responsibility Scheme for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) The Environmental Bureau of HKSAR recently published a consultation document on "A New Producer Responsibility Scheme for Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment". If members are interested, the whole set of consultation document can be downloaded from the EPD website. WEEE has become a growing concern internationally as they contain hazardous components that are harmful to the environment as well as human health. To enable our members to fully understand the proposed scheme, we have pleasure to invite Dr Alain Lam, Principal Environmental Protection Officer of the Environmental Protection Department, to offer a seminar which will be held on April 21. Please look for more details of the seminar in the CPD section. I would like to appeal to members to make your best attempt to attend this seminar as the new scheme may have an impact on property management professionals. I do hope that you could also offer your view in the seminar to the Council, so that we may formulate a more representative view to the Environmental Bureau by the deadline of April 30. CPD Updates Our Fellow Member, Mr James Pong, Chief Prosecution Officer, and Mr Francis Yeung, Prosecution Officer of the Central Prosecution Unit of the Environmental Protection Department delivered a speech on Environmental Law for Facilities Managers on March 15. They provided an the said issue that every facility manager should be aware of and encountered in their daily operation, they have also set out some case studies. With the permission from the speakers, the power-point presentation material will be uploaded to HKIS website. Any members who missed this useful CPD event can browse the HKIS website and download the materials for their own reference. A site visit to the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts was jointly organized with the Hong Kong Institute of Facility Management on March 20. The Director of Estate, Mr Bosco Yiu, of HKAPA shared with members the difficulties of running the project which involved the construction of a new wide span structural steel portal for a column-free unobstructed auditorium over a MTR tunnel and drainage reserve. The auditorium was originally used as an amphitheatre and HKAPA initiated the change in order to cater for its future multi-purpose function. Although the new theatre will be roofed with glass panel sky-light, it was noted that sophisticated acoustic material and building services installations were provided to enable a quiet and comfortable indoor environment while enjoying arts performance.