Property Management Services Authority “Handling Instrument of Appointing a Proxy” Code of Conduct to be Gazetted and Take Effect Tomorrow

Chairperson of the PMSA Dr James WONG said, “Property owners appointing proxy/licensee to attend OC or owners’ meeting and cast vote are regulated by the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344) and bound by the deed of mutual covenant (DMC) of the property. Licensed PMCs and PMPs have to remind owners of properties for which they provide property management (PM) services their obligation to attend the OC or owners’ meeting and cast vote, and fulfil the obligation in accordance with the law and the DMC of the property, including appointing proxy to attend the meeting on their behalf and cast vote.”

The Code and Guide stipulates clearly that licensees have the duty to remind owners to, as far as possible, attend the OC or owners’ meeting of their property in person and cast vote. If they cannot attend the meeting, they should appoint trustworthy person(s) in accordance with the procedures specified in the Building Management Ordinance (Cap. 344) to attend the meeting on their behalf and cast vote. If an owner intends to appoint a licensee who provides PM services to the concerned property as proxy to attend meeting and cast vote but the licensee has conflict of interest or potential conflict of interest with any agenda item of the meeting, the licensee has to declare to the concerned owner the conflict of interest (including potential conflict of interest) such that the owner can reconsider as to whether the appointment should be made. The licensee also has to consult the concerned owner the voting instruction for the agenda item(s), and make clear that if there is no voting instruction for the agenda item(s), the licensee may make voting decision on its own regarding the agenda item(s).

The PMSA has formulated the Code of Conduct and its respective Best Practice Guide in consultation with the PM industry, OCs/owners’ organisations and the Home Affairs Department and has appropriately reflected the feedback received from the consultation in the Code and Guide so that the content is comprehensive, pragmatic and suitable for the use of the industry, and licensed PMCs and PMPs can better understand how to deal with matters concerning attendance of OC or owners’ meeting and casting vote as authorised by owner(s).

Besides the aforementioned Code and Guide, the PMSA has already issued a total of 20 Codes of Conduct and their relevant Best Practice Guides regarding various other PM aspects, including “General Code of Conduct”, “Complaint Handling Mechanism of Property Management Companies”, “Effective Control over Property Management Business by Property Management Companies”, “Handling Moneys Received on behalf of Clients by Property Management Companies”, “Obligations of Property Management Companies regarding the Ending of their Appointment”, “Prevention of Corruption”, “Prescribed Conditions on Licences”, “Protection on Personal Data”,  “Handling Payment for or Arranging Payment to be Made by Clients”, “Provision of Prescribed Information and Financial Documents to Clients” , “Carrying out Procurement for Clients and Prevention of Bid-rigging”, “Handling Emergencies”, “Handling Scaffolding Works”, “Handling Suspended Working Platform Works”, “Handling Outsourced Property Management Services”, “Prevention of Corruption – Staff Recruitment and Management”, “Distribution and Display of Promotional Material”, “Tree Management Work”, “Obligations of Property Management Company under the Building Management Ordinance” and “Handling Building Works”.

The above Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guides can be downloaded from the PMSA webpage
https://www.pmsa.org.hk/en/regulatory-framework/codes-of-conduct. 

The PMSA will continue to issue other Codes of Conduct and Best Practice Guides timely, covering different PM areas in order to provide guidance to the industry, including but not limited to the following: