The Urban Renewal Strategy, which was promulgated in February 2011, states that the URA may provide assistance to owners as a consultant to help them assemble titles for commencing owner-initiated redevelopment.

The URA has set up its wholly-owned subsidiary, Urban Redevelopment Facilitating Services Co. Ltd. (“URFS”), to implement the Facilitating Services.

A. Services provided under Facilitating Services

URFS provides Facilitating Services to eligible owners. No acquisition, compensation, re-housing or resumption action on the part of URA/URFS is involved.

At the current stage, URFS mainly helps owners assemble titles for the joint sale of their property interests. The services include:

1. 1. appointment of consultants on behalf of the owners, and co-ordinating and monitoring the services provided by the consultants; and
   2. persuading yet-to-commit owners to join the Facilitating Services for the joint sale of their property interests under the Scheme.

Unlike URA-initiated redevelopment projects, the property interests will be sold to a purchaser other than the URA through a joint sale auction or tender.

B. Application requirements

All applications received by URFS are screened to see if each application meets the following criteria:

1. 1. In each application, the Applicants shall jointly own not less than 40% of the undivided shares in each lot of the application site. (Please refer to “Facilitating Services Scheme Pamphlet” for the details);
   2. The majority of the buildings (i.e. buildings on more than 50% of the site area) in the Application Site are not classified as “good” by URA in its Building Conditions Survey;
   3. If a District Urban Renewal Forum (“DURF”) has been set up in the district covering the Application Site, the Application Site should be situated within redevelopment zones identified by the DURF or at least not within the preservation areas proposed by the DURF;
   4. The Application Site does not form part of the area of a redevelopment project commenced by the URA; and
   5. If the Application Site consists of industrial buildings, the Application Site is not in a zone designated “Industrial” according to the statutory plans approved under the Town Planning Ordinance.

C. Application procedures

Application and project selection

Owners interested in joining the Facilitating Services must jointly submit an application form, together with the relevant information, to URFS.

URFS will notify the contact person in writing of the result of the application about two weeks after receipt of the application form. In deciding whether to select a particular application further processing, URFS considers whether the application requirements are satisfied, assesses the available manpower and financial resources of URFS at the time of applications, whether the application has passed the test of financial viability; building conditions; planning considerations; planning gains; property ownership structure and project implementability; etc.

Facilitation Agreement

For an application which has been selected as Facilitation Project, URFS will enter into a Facilitation Agreement with each of the Applicants and each of the other owners in the Application Site who participates subsequently (“the Facilitation Agreement Participants”). The Facilitation Agreement will detail the rights and obligations of URFS and of the Facilitation Agreement Participants.

Joint Sale Agreement

When the percentage of undivided shares of participating owners reaches the joint sale threshold, an independent valuation consultant will be appointed by URFS on behalf of the Facilitation Agreement Participants to assist them in setting the reserve price and agreeing on the sharing ratios for distribution of the sale proceeds obtained from a successful joint sale. The Facilitation Agreement Participants shall sign a Joint Sale Agreement confirming their agreement to sell their property interests jointly subject to the reserve price and to share the sale proceeds among themselves in accordance with the agreed sharing ratios.

Sale

The property interests covered by the Joint Sale Agreement are sold by auction or tender to the purchaser offering the highest bid which meets or exceeds the reserve price.

If the reserve price is not met, the joint sale fails. The joint sale services will be terminated.

If the property is successfully sold, the sale proceeds, less the contribution to URFS, are distributed to the Joint Sale Agreement Participants in accordance with the agreed sharing ratio schedule.

D. Fees

In the process of reaching a joint sale, URFS will, on behalf of the participating owners, engage related consultants (including, but not limited to, solicitors, valuers and auction consultants) to provide relevant services to the Facilitation Agreement Participants. When signing of the Facilitation Agreement has reached the Joint Sale Threshold, the Facilitation Agreement Participants shall pay the amount below (“the Contribution”):

• Standard Fee: HK$2,000 per unit or
• Concessionary Fee for elderly owners: HK$500 per unit

Upon successful joint sale of the property interests, URFS will charge the Joint Sale Agreement Participants a service fee of 1% of their shares of the sale proceeds derived from the joint sale. At the same time, the Contribution will be refunded by URFS from the 1% service fee received.

The Facilitation Agreement Participants who decide to withdraw from the Facilitation Project on their own accord at any time will not be eligible for a refund of any payment.

E. Withdrawal/termination

The Applicants may withdraw their applications at any time prior to their signing of Facilitation Agreement. The Facilitation Agreement Participants may cancel the Facilitation Agreement and withdraw from / terminate the Facilitation Project at any time prior to their signing of the Joint Sale Agreement.

If any of the stages cannot be reached or when the joint sale is not successful, the Facilitation Project will be aborted and all the signed Facilitation Agreements and Joint Sale Agreements (if any) will be terminated.