Application

Application Guidance

The deadline to submit the application of the “Enhanced Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector” (Enhanced ASPM) has been closed on 15 July 2020. The following application guidance is available for reference only.

Deadline for Applications

Deadline for Applications

Applications shall be submitted on or before 15 July 2020. Late applications will not be accepted.

Eligibility

Eligibility (To be updated)

Eligible Types of Property

Private residential or composite (commercial cum residential) buildings –

Private residential or composite (commercial cum residential) buildings (including subsidised sale flats developments of the Hong Kong Housing Authority and the Hong Kong Housing Society) with PMC or OO (including owners’ corporation (OC), mutual aid committee (MAC), owners’ committee (OComm), etc.).

Industrial and commercial buildings –

Private industrial buildings and commercial buildings

Industrial Buildings cover factories, trading buildings, and cold storage/warehouses.

Commercial Buildings cover office buildings, shopping malls, hotels, and market buildings.

Except for shopping malls and market buildings, the industrial buildings and commercial buildings concerned must be comprise 2 or more levels.

Frontline Property Management (PM) Workers Eligible for the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance”

Frontline PM workers performing duties related to security and environmental hygiene (e.g. cleansing and security workers) in an eligible property at any time between February and August 2020 (the “Subsidised Period”).

PMCs or OOs Eligible for the “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy”

The PMCs or OOs of eligible properties are eligible if the properties have:

(a) directly engaged the frontline PM worker(s) stated in paragraph 7; or

(b) engaged the frontline PM worker(s) stated in paragraph 7 through cleansing or security contractor(s)

1. For avoidance of doubt, “Industrial Buildings” and “Commercial Buildings” under the “Enhanced Scheme” do not include cargo handling and forwarding facilities, open storage yards/car parks/repair yards/vehicle stripping/breaking yards, transport facilities, education facilities, electricity facilities, recycling yards, sewage treatment facilities, exhibition/convention venues, holiday camps/bungalows, guesthouses, theme parks, medical facilities, social welfare facilities, religious facilities, funeral facilities, and buildings/facilities for agriculture use.

2. “Commercial Buildings” do not include composite (commercial cum residential) buildings/properties with residential use covered by the types of properties stated in paragragh 2.

Application Method – Preparation before Application

Application Method – Preparation before Application (To be updated)

Preparation before Application

In general, the application shall be made by the PMC or OO of an eligible property. Only one application for the “Enhanced Scheme” shall be submitted for each property. The application form is available for download from the dedicated website of the “Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector”.

If the application is made by PMC

A contact person shall be provided for enquiries by the Home Affairs Department (HAD) and/or the PMSA on matters in respect of the application.

A representative (not necessarily the same person as the contact person) shall be authorised by means of an authorisation letter issued by the PMC to sign and submit the application form (together with relevant supplementary documents and information), make the declaration in the application form, and handle all relevant and affiliated matters on behalf of the PMC. The PMC shall provide the original of the authorisation letter issued by the PMC as proof. A sample of the authorisation letter is available for download from the dedicated website of the “Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector”.

The following supporting documents shall be submitted:

(a) an original of the authorisation letter issued by the PMC mentioned in paragraph 11;

(b) a copy of the valid Business Registration Certificate or Certificate of Incorporation; and

(c) copy(ies) of the related page(s) of the relevant contract, the DMC and/or documents to prove that the Applicant is the PMC of the property.

If the application is made by OO

13. The following supporting documents shall be submitted:

(a) a copy of any one of the monthly bank account statements of the OO within the last three months; and

(b) a document (e.g. a copy of the “written resolution” specifically for the “Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector” or minutes of a meeting) bearing the seal or chop of the OO and signed by the Responsible Person, proving that the application is made as resolved by the OO –

(i) for an OC, the resolution shall be passed by the Management Committee;

(ii) for an MAC in a private building, the resolution shall be passed by the Executive Committee;

(iii) for an OComm, the resolution shall be passed by the OComm;

(iv) for any application submitted by other types of OO, document(s) shall be provided to the satisfaction of HAD and/or the PMSA that the application has been duly authorised by the owners of the property.

Application Method – Submission of Applications

Application Method – Submission of Applications (To be updated)

Submission of Applications

The Applicant shall submit the completed application form together with the necessary supporting documents to the PMSA by one of the following means:

(a) by email (with the subject of “Application for the Enhanced Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector (Application for Subsidy)”) attaching the application form to aspm_esubmission@pmsahk.org.hk; or

(b) by post or in person to: The Property Management Services Authority, Units 806-8, 8/F, Sunlight Tower, 248 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai (please specify on the envelope “Application for the Enhanced Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector (Application for Subsidy)”).

For applications submitted by post, the postmark date will be taken as the date of submission. For applications submitted in person, the date of receipt of the application form by the PMSA will be taken as the date of submission.

If the application is to be submitted by post, please affix sufficient stamp and provide a return address on the back of the envelope. Application(s) without sufficient postage will not be successfully delivered.

After submitting the application through email, the Applicant shall submit:

(a) the original of the declaration (Part VI of the application form) bearing the signature and chop; and

(b) (applicable to PMC) the original of the authorisation letter issued by the company

by post or in person to the PMSA as soon as possible (please specify on the envelope “Submission of Information for Application by email for the Enhanced Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector (Application for Subsidy)”.

Amount of Subsidy

Amount of Subsidy (To be updated)

Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance

Each frontline PM worker is eligible for a monthly “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” of $1,000 for a maximum of 7 months (for the period between February and August 2020) during the course of employment (Please refer to Example1). The maximum headcounts for each building block in an eligible property is 100.

The cap of headcounts for a property is the sum of caps of headcounts for all eligible building blocks therein. The headcounts for the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” for different buildings in the same property can be flexibly allocated. (Please refer to Examples 2 to 3).

Frontline PM workers can make use of the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” to strengthen their capacity on personal protection and environmental hygiene (such as procurement of personal protective equipment including masks, disinfectant alcohol, protective gloves, etc.).

The Applicant shall complete a list of frontline PM workers to be granted the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance”. If the list of frontline PM worker(s) of the relevant month(s) is not available when submitting the application, the Applicant may complete the form based on the estimated manpower arrangement and provide subsequently the final list of frontline PM workers who have been granted the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” in a way specified by HAD and/or the PMSA. (See paragraphs 36 to 40 below)

The Applicant shall undertake that the subsidy is only used for the disbursement of the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance”, which shall not in any way be used to reduce the wages and benefits payable to any of the frontline PM workers concerned under the Employment Ordinance (Cap. 57) and/or contracts of employment during the Subsidised Period.

The “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” is not part of the employees’ remuneration and will be excluded from calculation of the Mandatory Provident Fund contributions of the frontline PM workers.

In pursuant to the Exemption from Salaries Tax and Profits Tax (Anti-epidemic Fund) Order (the Order) gazetted and enacted on 29 May 2020, frontline PM workers who receive the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” are exempt from the payment of salaries tax in respect of the allowance.

Under the Enhanced Scheme, if the number of frontline PM workers exceeds the cap of headcounts for the property, the Applicant (either the PMC or OO) is encouraged to top up the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” for the worker(s) not covered.

The Applicant should disburse the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” in an inclusive and fair manner.

Amount of Subsidy – Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance

Amount of Subsidy – Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance (To be updated)

An eligible PMC or OO can receive a one-off “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy” of $4,000 for each residential/composite building block in an eligible property and $8,000 for each industrial/commercial building block therein during the entire Subsidised Period (i.e. February to August 2020).

The total amount of subsidy for each property is the sum of subsidies for all building blocks therein. The maximum amount of the “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy” for each eligible property is $400,000. (Please see Example 4)

The “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy” shall:

(a) be used for subsidising the expenditure for heightened cleansing efforts for the building (such as procurement of cleansing products and protective kits); and

(b) benefit the owners, residents, tenants and users of the building.

In pursuant to the Order gazetted and enacted on 29 May 2020, PMCs or OOs that receive the “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy” are exempt from the payment of profits tax in respect of the subsidy.

Amount of Subsidy – Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy

Amount of Subsidy – Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy (To be updated)

Special Arrangement for Houses (獨立屋/洋房) with Three Storeys or Less (Excluding the Roof) for Domestic or Composite Use

In general, if a property comprises house(s) each with three storeys or less (excluding the roof) for domestic or composite use, every ten such houses will be counted as an eligible block (i.e. first to tenth such houses as one block, 11^th to 20^th such houses as one block, and so on) for the purpose of calculating the headcounts and amounts of the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” and the “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy”. (Please refer to Example 5)

Special Arrangement for Shopping Malls

A commercial car park ancillary to a shopping mall for public use shall be counted as a separate “commercial building block” with another 100 headcounts for the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” and $8,000 for the “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy”. (Please refer to Example 3 and 4)

Other Points to Note

Other Points to Note

The information provided in the application form and the attached document(s) (including supplementary information and document(s) (if any)) shall be true and correct. Any incorrect/inaccurate information provided in the application form and the attached document(s) (including supplementary information and document(s) (if any)) may render the application invalid. Full or partial refund of the grant (including the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” and the “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy”) shall be required. If the Applicant knowingly or wilfully makes any false statement or withholds any information, or misleads HAD and/or the PMSA for the purpose of obtaining the grant under the Scheme, and/or by any deception dishonestly obtains for himself/herself or another any pecuniary advantage, he/she may be liable to prosecution and on conviction to imprisonment.

HAD and/or the PMSA may conduct random checks and reviews, and/or request supplementary document(s) for the application, including but not limited to the management contracts and/or relevant management information of the subsidised property, the Contracts of Employment and/or supplementary information on the scope of work, and remittance statements for Mandatory Provident Fund. The Applicant shall accede to the request by submitting the relevant information within the prescribed period for the approval, assessment, review and future monitoring by HAD and/or the PMSA.

HAD and/or the PMSA do(es) not guarantee or undertake that all applications for allowance and subsidy will eventually be approved. Each application is bound by its own terms and requirements for approval.

Disbursement of Subsidy

Disbursement of Subsidy

Upon receiving the application, the PMSA will verify the information with the Applicant if necessary. In general, the PMSA will notify the Applicant of the result in writing and disburse the subsidy in about three to four weeks after receiving the application form and all the necessary supporting documents. The PMC/Responsible Person of the OO shall notify the OO of the property of the approval of the application.

Generally speaking, the PMSA will disburse the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” and the “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy” to the Applicant on a one-off basis for the Subsidised Period. The Applicant shall disburse a monthly “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” of $1,000 to each of the frontline PM workers stated in the application form as soon as possible upon successful application and receipt of the subsidy. Frontline PM workers shall acknowledge receipt of the allowance in the prescribed forms of HAD and/or the PMSA [Hyperlink] when the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” is received.

Follow-up Work

Follow-up Work

The Applicant is not required to submit the acknowledgement receipts of the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” of frontline PM workers to HAD and/or the PMSA but shall keep the receipts for at least 12 months. HAD and/or the PMSA may conduct random checks and reviews, by, for instance, asking the Applicant to provide the acknowledgement receipts or calling the frontline PM workers to confirm receipt of the allowance. Any abuse of the allowance will be referred to relevant departments.

The Applicant shall consolidate all acknowledgement receipts and prepare a report on the overall payment of the allowance in the format as prescribed by HAD and/or the PMSA, and shall submit the report to the PMSA for checks and reviews on or before 15th September 2020 after receiving the allowance. The report shall list the particulars of the frontline PM workers who have eventually received the allowance.

If the actual amount of “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” disbursed to frontline PM workers is less than the amount of the allowance granted, the Applicant shall give notification in a way specified by HAD and/or the PMSA as soon as possible. HAD and/or the PMSA will issue the “Notice of Balance Repayment” and the Applicant shall repay the balance in full within one month from the issue date of the notice.

The decision of HAD in respect of the application shall be final. HAD reserves the right to adjust the amount of subsidy and reject the application without giving any reason and without incurring any liability of whatever nature to any person.

The list of participants and the relevant information of the application including the name and address of the property, the name of PMC/OO, etc. will be uploaded to the website(s) of HAD and/or the PMSA for public inspection.

HAD and/or the PMSA may disclose the information contained in the application form and the attached document(s) (including supplementary information and document(s) (if any)) to relevant government departments/organisations for the purposes of approval, assessment and review of applications as well as monitoring and statistical use.

If you have any question regarding the application result or our scheme, please contact us on or before 15th September 2020.

Examples

Examples

Example 1: The “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” for frontline PM workers can be calculated on a monthly basis

Assuming that the frontline PM worker –

“A” provided cleansing service for an eligible property from February to March 2020;

“B” provided cleansing service for that property from April to May 2020;

“C” provided cleansing service for that property from May to August 2020; and

“D” provided cleansing service for that property from February to August 2020.

In this regard,

a two-month allowance (i.e. $2,000) may be granted to “A” for February to March 2020;

a two-month allowance (i.e. $2,000) may be granted to “B” for April to May 2020;

a four-month allowance (i.e. $4,000) may be granted to “C” for May to August 2020; and

a seven-month allowance (i.e. $7,000) may be granted to “D” for February to August 2020.

Example 2: The headcounts for the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” for different buildings in the same property can be flexibly allocated

Assuming that there are two residential building blocks and a shopping mall in a property –

Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance	Block A (Residential building)	Block B (Residential building)	Block C (Shopping mall)	Total amount of allowance for the property
Headcounts	100	100	100	300
Actual number of workers	4	6	101	126 (Total amount of allowance is based on the actual number of workers)
	with 15 other workers providing security/ enviornmental hygiene service for all three blocks of buildings/shopping mall

Only applicable to industrial buildings and commercial buildings

Example 3: The headcounts for the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” for different buildings in the same property can be flexibly allocated

Assuming that there are a multi-purpose commercial building (including a shopping mall (with an ancillary commercial car park) and a hotel) and two office building blocks in a commercial building cluster –

Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance	Multi-purpose commercial building		Block A	Block B	Total amount of allowance for the property
Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance	Shopping Mall (with an ancillary commercial park)	Hotel	Office building		Total amount of allowance for the property
Headcounts	200	100	100	100	500
Actual number of workers	36	30	24	30	160 (Total amount of allowance is based on the actual number of workers)
	with 40 other workers providing security/enviornmental hygiene service for the commercial building cluster

Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy

Example 4: The “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy” is one-off in nature; the amount of “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy” for the property is the sum of subsidies for all building blocks

Assuming that there are three residential building blocks, a shopping mall and two office building blocks in a property –

Block A	Block B	Block C	Shopping mall (with an ancillary commercial car park)	Block 1	Block 2	Total amount of subsidy for the property for the entired Subsidised Period (February to August)
Residential building			Shopping mall (with an ancillary commercial car park)	Office building
$4,000	$4,000	$4,000	$16,000	$8,000	$8,000	$44,000

Special arrangement only applicable to houses (獨立屋/洋房) with three storeys or less (excluding the roof) for domestic or composite use

Example 5: Every ten houses with three storeys or less (excluding the roof) will be counted as an eligible block

Assuming that an estate comprises 25 houses with three storeys or less (excluding the roof) –

Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance	1^st– 10^th house	11^th – 20^th house	21^st – 25^th house	Total amount of allowance for the property
Headcounts	100	100	100	300
Actual number of workers	15	15	18	48 (Total amount of allowance is based on the actual number of workers)

Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy	1^st– 10^th house	11^th – 20^th house	21^st – 25^th house	Total amount of subsidy for the property for the entired Subsidised Period (February to August)
	$4,000	$4,000	$4,000	$12,000

Enquiries

Enquiries

44. For enquiries about the application, please contact the PMSA –

Office of the “Anti-epidemic Support Scheme for Property Management Sector”

Address ： Units 806-8, 8/F, Sunlight Tower, 248 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai, Hong Kong

Telephone ： 3696 1156/3696 1166

Email ： aspm@pmsahk.org.hk

Statement of Purpose for Collection of Personal Data

Statement of Purpose for Collection of Personal Data

Purpose of Collection

HAD, the PMSA and relevant staff will use the personal data (including the personal data of frontline PM worker(s) provided in the application) you provided for:

(a) processing the application for the Enhanced Scheme, verifying the relevant information, disbursing the grants, overseeing the disbursement of the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” and the “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy” and recovering the “Anti-epidemic Hardship Allowance” and the “Anti-epidemic Cleansing Subsidy” (if applicable);

(b) publishing the application results on the website of HAD and/or the PMSA in a form that cannot identify any individuals; and

(c) statistical, analytical and research purposes, and the statistics or research results obtained will not be released or made available to a third party in a form that allows personal details of any individual being identifiable.

HAD and/or the PMSA will review some of the applications to verify whether the information provided is true and correct. During the review, you or the frontline PM worker(s) stated in your application may be required to provide further information.

The provision of information (including the personal data of frontline PM worker(s) provided in the application) to HAD and the PMSA is voluntary.

Transferees

For the purposes stated in paragraphs 44 and 45 above, or with your consent, or where disclosure is authorised or required by the law, the personal data (including the personal data of frontline PM worker(s) provided in the application) you provided may be disclosed by HAD and/or the PMSA to the relevant Government bureaux/departments/organisations. HAD and/or the PMSA may contact the relevant Government bureaux/departments/organisations to obtain and verify information for the purposes stated in paragraphs 44 and 45

Access to Personal Data and Enquiries

Information and documents submitted in relation to the application will not be returned. In accordance with the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486), you have the right to access and make corrections to the personal data (including the personal data of frontline PM worker(s) provided in the application) provided in the application form and other application documents. You may also request a copy of the relevant personal data by paying an administration fee. Requests for access and/or making corrections to personal data should be addressed to the following officer in writing –

Data Protection Officer

Property Management Services Authority

8/F, Sunlight Tower, 248 Queen’s Road East, Wan Chai

Telephone: 3696 1156/3696 1166

Email: aspm@pmsahk.org.hk