Commercial and Industrial Buildings - Selection Criteria and Processing of Applications

All applications received by Urban Redevelopment Facilitating Services Co. Ltd. ("URFS") will be screened to see if they meet the following application requirements*:

• Joint application by owners of not less than 50% of the undivided shares in each lot within the site;
• The majority of the buildings (i.e. buildings on more than 50% of the site area) in the site under application are classified as "poor" or "varied" by the URA in its Building Conditions Survey after carrying out inspection of buildings and none of the buildings in the site is classified as "good". Further inspections of the buildings may have to be conducted by URFS or consultants engaged by URFS, if so deemed necessary.
• If a District Urban Renewal Forum ("DURF") has been set up in the district covering the site, the site under application should be situated within the redevelopment zones identified by the DURF or at least not within the preservation areas proposed by the DURF.
• The site does not form part of the area of a redevelopment project commenced by the URA.
• The building(s) in the site under application should be under any one of the categories below:
• Commercial:

The occupation permit of each building in the site under application permits non-domestic use (excluding industrial uses) for whole building; or

• Industrial:

The occupation permit of each building in the site under application permits industrial use for whole or part of that building, and

The site is not in a zone designated "Industrial" according to the statutory plans approved under the Town Planning Ordinance.

• If the application was not selected on the ground that it failed the financial viability assessment conducted by URFS internally or a valuer engaged by URFS (i.e. the proposed joint sale would not financially benefit the participating owners), re-submission of same application would not be allowed within one year from the date of notification of the rejection of the previous application by URFS.

(*Details can be referred to in the Facilitating Services (Pilot Scheme) Pamphlet – Commercial and Industrial Buildings)

Applications must fulfill the above application requirements before they can be considered for selection. All applications received within 1 month as the same batch (which is counted from the date of first application in that batch) will be scored for the ranking of priority for selection with the reference to the following factors which are not meant to be exhaustive:

• Building Conditions (max. 40%)

For example:

• High proportions of building with "Poor" condition which indicate building decay and dilapidation such as concrete spalling, cracking, bulging, leakage, seepage etc.;
• High proportions of buildings have confirmed signs of sub-divided units;
• Buildings have permanently obstructed means of escape from ground floor to roof.
• Planning Considerations (max. 20%) which comprise planning gains and planning impacts:
• Planning Gains

For example:

• Redevelopment allows for set-back/road-widening etc. (if it is a statutory or government requirement)
• Existing use includes obnoxious trades, or unauthorized or illegal activities, the removal of which by way of redevelopment would have a positive impact on local living environment;
• Planning Impacts

For example:

• Existing use (with distinct local character) will be removed by redevelopment.

Note: Higher scores will be accorded for industrial buildings in residential zones.

• Other Relevant Factors (max. 40%)

For example:

• Ownership structure
• Known cases of tenant eviction
• Financial viability of redevelopment

Owner-applicants will be duly informed of such application result within 3 months from the submission of application.

URFS may revise the above selection criteria from time to time without giving prior notice.