First Property Management Practitioner Licence Holder
Convicted by Court for Providing False Information to the
Property Management Services Authority

A former Property Management Practitioner (Tier 1) licence holder (“former licensed PMP”) was sentenced by the court to a fine of $1,000 and two months’ imprisonment (suspended for 36 months) for failing to disclose criminal conviction record as required in accordance with the Property Management Services Ordinance (Cap. 626) (“PMSO”) when applying for provisional Property Management Practitioner (Tier 1) licence and Property Management Practitioner (Tier 1) licence respectively.

Pursuant to section 14 of the PMSO, a person commits an offence if the person, in connection with an application for a licence or the renewal of a licence, provides any information or document to the Property Management Services Authority (“PMSA”) that is false or misleading in a material particular; and the person knows that, or is reckless as to whether, the information or document is false or misleading in a material particular. If convicted, the person is liable to a fine and imprisonment.

At earlier time, this former licensed PMP first submitted provisional Property Management Practitioner (Tier 1) licence application to the PMSA, and subsequently submitted Property Management Practitioner (Tier 1) licence application, declaring no criminal conviction record before licence application. The PMSA later obtained information indicating that this former licensed PMP had been convicted by the court for committing criminal offence and had been sentenced to imprisonment previously. Thus, this former licensed PMP’s declaration of no criminal conviction record to the PMSA was inconsistent with the fact and was thus suspected of providing information to the PMSA that was false or misleading in a material particular when applying for licence. The PMSA referred the case to the Police for action. After investigation, this former licensed PMP was charged with two counts of offence under section 14 of the PMSO. On 11 September this year, this former licensed PMP was found guilty of two charges of providing false or misleading information to the PMSA at the Eastern Magistrates’ Courts and was subsequently sentenced to a fine and suspended imprisonment.

As the PMSA had reason to believe that this former licensed PMP did not possess specified property management (“PM”) service work experience and therefore not meeting the prescribed conditions to hold the relevant licence, all of this former licensed PMP’s licences had been revoked as ordered in an earlier disciplinary hearing held by the PMSA.

Dr James Wong, Chairperson of the PMSA said, “As the statutory body for regulating the PM industry, the PMSA seriously reminds all those concerned that they have to ensure that all information relating to licence application submitted to the PMSA are accurate, otherwise they may be prosecuted for providing false or misleading information to the PMSA, contrary to the PMSO. If convicted, the maximum penalty is a fine of $200,000 and imprisonment for 1 year on conviction by indictment; or a fine of $100,000 and imprisonment for 6 months on summary conviction. The PMSA shall, upon discovery of suspected contravention of the law, follow up and deal with the case seriously."

Ends/Thursday, 5 December 2024
Issued at HKT 16:00​​​​
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