The government has proposed requiring property-management companies to check at least 20% of proxy documents used at owners’ meetings. The measure is part of proposed amendments to the Building Management Ordinance, which also include tiered thresholds for in-person voting on major repairs.
The Hong Kong Institute of Housing says those checks may be difficult to carry out reliably. A phone call may go unanswered, and hearing a voice does not necessarily confirm that the speaker is the owner. A signature on a proxy form may also differ from the sample an owner gave the manager when moving in.
The institute’s president, Wong Po Chun, Rosita, said that knocking on a flat’s door may not help if it is occupied by someone other than the owner, and managers may be unable to check an identity card. Requiring the person appointed as proxy to sign could also be hard to put into practice.
The institute wants the government to spell out how managers should conduct and verify the checks. Wong said property managers have no statutory power to investigate and should not carry all the responsibility if they have made their best efforts. The Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs has said deficient checks could be treated as a breach of professional conduct and affect a company’s licence renewal.
The workload could be substantial in a large estate. Wong said checking proxies across a development with several thousand homes could involve hundreds of households and require extra staff or resources. Managers might discuss additional charges for owners’ meetings, although ordinary management fees might not be affected.
The government is studying a trial electronic proxy-voting platform for the end of next year. Wong said such a platform could record when documents are submitted and help confirm the identities of owners and proxies, while longer-term electronic identity authentication could also help the property-management sector.