The Consumer Council (CC) is pleased to have the opportunity to provide comments on the proposed mandatory building inspection scheme (MBIS) and believes it can encourage building owners to assume responsibility to ensure their buildings are in good repair as a practicable long-term solution to address the problem of building neglect. CC would like to address the following matters below:
- Target Buildings of the Scheme
- Regulating Window Safety
- Consumer Choices
- Exemption
- Long-term Policy
Target Buildings subject to the Scheme
CC supports the Government's proposal that as a start all types of private domestic, composite, and non-domestic buildings aged 30 years or above should be subject to inspection and that a stepwise implementation approach should be adopted. Statistics on the inspection results can provide the basis for the Government to determine whether to extend the scheme to buildings aged under 30 at a later stage.
Regulating Window Safety
CC feels that windows should have reasonably long life as part of building structures, and developers of new buildings ought to ensure that windows are constructed to the specified safety standards. CC understands the Government's concern with window safety arising from the spade of accidents involving falling of aluminium windows from height. CC notes that air conditioners not properly maintained could be equally hazardous to the safety of bystanders. CC agrees that the safety concern could call for window inspection for buildings over certain years of age, but whether there should be a one-off inspection or a regular one to be repeated at appropriate intervals may perhaps be left to be determined according to the relevant state of repair. For the five year requirement, CC invites the Government to provide information on how this number of years has been arrived at. Considering the large number of buildings aged five years and over, it will be preferable to start with old buildings first to avoid the problem of not having sufficient qualified to meet the large demand.
Consumer Choices
CC is concerned with the actual number of authorized persons who are available to undertake inspection and rectification work under the proposed scheme. Before implementation of the scheme, the Government will need to ensure that there is sufficient number of qualified persons to meet demand, otherwise fees will be pushed up and consumer choice will also be limited.
Whilst CC sees some help to consumers in the proposal to publish for reference purpose the advisory fee levels for building inspection of different types of buildings and window safety enhancement measures, it is also weary of the effect that may have on encouraging competitive pricing in the market place. CC feels that it may be more useful for consumers to be given advice on procedures and scope of work covered by the proposed scheme, and guidance on how to find qualified persons to undertake the work. Such information should be made easily accessible to the public.
Exemption
CC understands that the voluntary building classification scheme (VBCS) is intended to encourage building owners to maintain good standards in the management and maintenance for their buildings which in turn will be reflected in their market value and therefore will provide the incentive for building owners to invest in the building maintenance work. As the underlying objective of VBCS is different from the purpose to be served by the proposed mandatory scheme, CC considers it inappropriate that buildings with good ratings under the VBCS should be exempted from MBIS. It is envisaged that VBCS might already be able to meet some requirements concurrently under the MBIS and as such warrants some means of recognition of the efforts made, but a blanket exemption is undesirable.
Long-term Policy
It is stated in the consultation paper that in the long run, buildings aged 10 years or above may also be included in the MBIS scheme. If the MBIS is to be extend to younger buildings, as a complementary policy to prevent building neglect and protect public safety, CC considers a more effective measure is for construction of quality buildings. In any case, most buildings are to last for 50 or more years, therefore the Government should consider requiring property developers to offer a warranty period of 10 years for new buildings. This will ensure building quality and that there will be responsible parties to keep buildings maintained during their life span. To maintain the current state might have inadvertently encourage developers to save in initial building costs and pass the burden on purchasers and subsequent residents who have to pay more for maintenance.
Consumer Council
