Office of The Ombudsman announces results of direct investigation operation into Housing Department's handling of air-conditioner dripping in public housing estates
The following is issued on behalf of the Office of The Ombudsman:
The Ombudsman, Mr Jack Chan, today (August 7) announced the completion of a direct investigation operation into the Housing Department (HD)'s handling of air-conditioner dripping in public housing estates, with 15 major recommendations for improvement made to the HD.
Over 780 000 households, comprising about 2 million residents, live in 195 public housing estates under the Hong Kong Housing Authority (HKHA). The HD and its property services agents (PSAs) are responsible for the daily management of these estates, which encompasses a wide array of duties. Proper management of public housing is a crucial livelihood issue. Following the Office of The Ombudsman's direct investigation operation into illegal parking in public housing estates completed in March this year, this direct investigation operation deals with air-conditioner dripping.
Mr Chan said, "Over the years, the HD has made extensive efforts to successfully alleviate the problem of air-conditioner dripping through the implementation of the air-conditioner drain-pipe installation programme, and inclusion of such misdeeds under the Marking Scheme for Estate Management Enforcement. The number of complaints received by the HD dropped by 93 per cent from around 18 900 in 2005 to an average of around 1 300 from 2022 to 2024. This remarkable accomplishment merits recognition and appreciation."
However, air-conditioner dripping remains a typical problem every summer. The HD must step up its efforts to ensure a hygienic and quality living environment for residents. Among the public housing estates under HKHA, the property management of around two-thirds are outsourced to the HD's PSAs (known as outsourced estates), and the remaining one-third are directly managed by the HD (known as directly managed estates).
Between 2022 and 2024, outsourced and directly managed estates received 2 826 and 1 049 complaints respectively about air-conditioner dripping. During those years, related complaints rose by 45.5 per cent in outsourced estates and 20.1 per cent in directly managed estates. In 2024, 10.6 per cent of the complaints in outsourced estates were repeated complaints, compared to 6.3 per cent in directly managed estates. These figures reflect that directly managed estates outperformed outsourced estates, where outsourced estates had a higher increase in the number of complaints and a higher percentage of repeated complaints. In terms of the proportion of complaints over the number of households, outsourced estates recorded percentages of 0.17 per cent, 0.20 per cent and 0.24 per cent in 2022, 2023 and 2024 respectively while directly managed estates recorded percentages of 0.12 per cent, 0.12 per cent and 0.14 per cent during the same period.
There are two categories of misdeeds under the Marking Scheme: those incurring a warning prior to the allotment of penalty points, and those resulting in an immediate point allotment. Air-conditioner dripping falls into the former category. The Office's investigation revealed that in air-conditioner dripping cases, the HD's PSAs often issued reminder letters to non-compliant tenants before enforcing the Marketing Scheme. These letters were merely advisory in nature. During the Office's inquiry and investigation, initially the HD had not yet formulated guidelines on issuing reminder letters. Between 2022 and 2024, the HD's PSAs issued an average of two reminder letters per complaint, which was more than tenfold of those issued in directly managed estates. There were cases which revealed that despite the repeated issuance of reminder letters, the dripping problem still occurred. As the HD's PSAs might not be required to report the number of reminder letters issued to the HD, the HD can hardly verify whether its PSAs are issuing too many reminder letters or mishandling air-conditioner dripping complaints.
The Office's investigation also found that the HD's operational guidelines for handling air-conditioner dripping cases are too brief, focusing only on the procedures for enforcing the Marking Scheme without clear instructions for frontline staff on such aspects as complaint investigations, source detections, air-conditioner testing and its duration, dealing with unco-operative tenants and arranging follow-up inspections. The Office considers the absence of proper guidelines might have resulted in inconsistent handling by frontline staff, as evidenced in some cases.
The Office is pleased to note that during its inquiry and investigation, the HD has, since December 2024, implemented enhanced measures under the Marking Scheme, such as launching standardised "advisory letters", granting a uniform grace period of five days and formulating guidelines for issuing advisory letters and follow-up actions etc.
Mr Chan said, "Nothing about people's livelihoods is trivial. Air-conditioner dripping probably causes not only hygiene-related nuisances but also noise disturbances. From an estate management perspective, it is incumbent on the HD to thoroughly enforce the Marking Scheme in order to address the dripping problems and resolve such complaints promptly. The Office considers it undesirable for the HD to be unable to ascertain in the past whether its PSAs were issuing too many reminder letters and handling cases inconsistently. The Office recommends that the HD explore ways to formulate measures for monitoring the issuance of advisory letters and case reporting to strengthen its supervision of its PSAs, as well as to record the details and follow-up actions in relation to air-conditioner dripping complaints more systematically. The HD should also beef up its operational guidelines and expedite the adoption of innovative technologies to improve its ability to trace the sources of dripping. Furthermore, the Office recommends that the HD consider collaboration with other government departments (such as the Food and Environmental Hygiene Department (FEHD)) to foster exchanges of experiences across their respective areas of responsibility."
Overall, the Office has made 15 major recommendations for improvements. It is pleased to note that all the recommendations have been agreed by the HD.
The Office's major recommendations for improvement to the HD include:
• explore the formulation of measures for monitoring the issuance of advisory letters and case reporting to strengthen its supervision of its PSAs;
• explore how to record the details and follow-up of dripping complaints more systematically to facilitate monitoring;
• consider enhancing its operational guidelines for handling air-conditioner dripping cases, enabling estate management staff to work in clarity and effectively;
• beef up the operational guidelines with clear procedures for frontline staff to investigate the source of dripping, including making every effort to enter suspected flats for air-conditioner testing where there is no other way to verify the source of dripping, for example, when the source cannot be determined through external observation, standardising the durations for testing, and specifying follow-up actions when the source remains unidentified;
• draw up operational guidelines and notices in designated format for cases where the source of dripping has not been determined;
• consider requiring its PSAs to include in their monthly reports the number of advisory letters issued and any repeated cases to facilitate problem detection and follow-up;
• expedite and broaden the adoption of innovative technologies to strengthen its ability to detect dripping air-conditioners; and
• consider collaborating with other government departments (such as the FEHD) to explore opportunities of conducting large-scale inspections as well as publicity and education campaigns, with a view to increasing public engagement and boosting awareness of proper air-conditioner maintenance.
The full investigation report has been uploaded to the website of the Office of The Ombudsman at www.ombudsman.hk for public information.
Office of The Ombudsman announces results of direct investigation operation into Housing Department's handling of air-conditioner dripping in public housing estates Source: HKSAR Government Press Releases
