A study of the impact of the licensing regime under the Property Management Services Ordinance on the level of management fee paid by property owners

Abstract

After an insubstantial public consultation on the regulation of the property management industry in early 2010s, Property Management Services Ordinance (PMSO) was enacted prematurely. While many sizable property management companies supported the bill, the interests of owners in single-block buildings and practicality of practitioners from small property management companies following the new regime were overlooked. This paper adopted desktop research, literature review and online survey to explore the potential impacts to management under the regime in terms of management fee and costs of the practitioners. While the introduction of PMSO would enhance the industry’s professionalism, it would lead to financial burdens and additional workload to practitioners. To help the policymakers to rectify PMSO’s shortcomings, recommendations including strengthened supervision, more flexible course schedule, a referral mechanism for practitioners’ protection and introduction of exemption regulations are suggested.