The Housing Bureau (IH) announced in a statement yesterday that it has accepted 9,796 submissions for its latest round of applications for 5,254 subsidised home-ownership scheme (HOS) flats on the Zone A land reclamation area.
The application period ran from July 14 to November 30 last year, during which the bureau received 11,707 applications.
Yesterday’s statement said that the bureau has rejected 1,911 of the 11,707 applications, after a two-week period earlier this year for the provisionally rejected applicants to appeal to the bureau.
The 5,254 HOS flats, the construction of which got off the ground earlier this year on five plots on Zone A, comprise 242 one-bedroom units, 4,478 two-bedroom units and 534 three-bedroom units.
Yesterday’s statement pointed out that the bureau announced a provisional acceptance list on March 23 this year, when 9,667 of the 11,707 applications had been provisionally accepted, while the remaining 2,040, had been provisionally rejected.
After the announcement of the provisional acceptance list, rejected applicants could choose to appeal to the Housing Bureau against its decision, from March 24 and April 7, during which, according to yesterday’s statement, the bureau received 221 appeals from rejected applicants.
Yesterday’s statement announced that after follow-up assessments, the bureau has now decided to accept 129 of the 221 applications that it had previously rejected, while the appeals of remaining, 92 were rejected.
Consequently, according to the final acceptance list announced yesterday, 9,796 of the 11,707 applications have been finally accepted, while the remaining 1,911, have been finally rejected.
Yesterday’s statement also noted that rejected applicants announced on the final list can still appeal to the Administrative Court against the Housing Bureau’s final decision.
The final acceptance list has been posted on the outdoor notice boards at Cheng Chong Building in Ilha Verde, where the Housing Bureau is headquartered, until December 29, the statement said.
Applicants can also check the final acceptance list on: https://www.ihm.gov.mo/zh/eh-query-waiting-list
The statement noted that the latest round of applications, which ran from July 14 to November 30 last year, was the first one carried out in line with the amended HOS law, which took effect in August 2020.
According to the current version of the law, the allocation of HOS flats is carried out on a points-based system, whereas under the previous version HOS flats were allocated through a lucky draw process but with priority given to family applicants (those with senior citizens in particular) over individual applicants.
Under the previous version of the law, HOS units could be sold on the private market after the owners had owned them for a certain number of years, while according to the current version, HOS unit owners can only sell their flats back to the Housing Bureau.
The 9,796 accepted applicants are ranked on the list announced yesterday according to scores calculated based on various factors and variables, for the allocation of the purchase of the 5,254 HOS flats.
A woman yesterday checks the Housing Bureau’s (IH) final acceptance list of its application round for 5,254 subsidised home-ownership scheme (HOS) flats, which are being built on the Zone A land reclamation area, posted on the outdoor notice boards at Cheng Chong Building in Ilha Verde. – Photo: IH
