Renting a flat

An earlier set of notes on starting work covered stamping a tenancy (stamp duty). The notes below cover the other rules to know before you sign and after you sign. They cover what estate agency agreement form 6 says when you rent through an estate agent, when the commission is paid, and when it can be refunded. They cover the legal frame for a residential tenancy in Hong Kong: there is no control of rent increases, and there is no security of tenure. They cover the landlord's duty to have CR109 endorsed, the cases in which a landlord may recover the flat, and the conduct that is unlawful. They follow the Rating and Valuation Department page on the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance, the Department's summary of the guide to that Ordinance, and the Estate Agents Authority estate agency agreement for leasing residential properties in Hong Kong, form 6 (Chinese version). Checked 19 October 2026. These notes are not legal advice.

The basic rules of a residential tenancy

1. Part IV of the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (Cap. 7) applies to a private residential tenancy and to a sub-tenancy.
2. It does not control the amount of a rent increase. It does not give security of tenure. The Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) (Amendment) Ordinance 2004 removed the tenant's statutory right to renew at a market rent.
3. A residential tenancy entered into on or after 9 July 2004 ends in the way the tenancy provides, or in the way the two sides agree. If the tenancy says nothing about how it ends, a fixed-term tenancy ends when the term expires. A periodic tenancy (for example, one that runs on from month to month) ends by a notice to quit of a length comparable to the length of the tenancy.
4. In practice, the terms of the tenancy decide almost everything. The length of the term, early termination, renewal, and a rent increase all need to be written down when you sign.
5. Part IV does not apply to a tenancy that is in writing, for a fixed term of 5 years or more, and that does not allow the landlord to end it early or to raise the rent during the term.
6. A subdivided unit is separately controlled as a "regulated tenancy" under Part IVA. The landlord must submit Form AR2 within 60 days after the tenancy begins. These notes do not go into that.

Renting through an estate agent: form 6

The Estate Agents Practice (General Duties and Hong Kong Residential Properties) Regulation requires the agent and the tenant to sign an estate agency agreement for leasing residential properties in Hong Kong (form 6). Read each item before you sign.

1. How long it lasts. The agreement states that the suggested period of validity should not exceed 3 months.
2. The agency relationship:
   1. Single agency. The agent acts only for you.
   2. Dual agency. The agent also acts for the landlord.
   3. An agent who may act for both parties.

Where the appointment is dual agency, the agent must, as soon as practicable, tell you in writing the amount or the rate of commission the agent will charge the landlord.

1. Commission. The amount or the rate can be agreed with the agent. It is entered in Schedule 1. Schedule 3 states when it is paid. Tick one of the two: when the tenancy is signed, or when the term stated in the tenancy begins. Where you can, choose the second.
2. When the commission is refunded. If a binding tenancy does not begin on the due date, and the reason is not your fault, you do not have to pay the commission. If you have already paid it, the agent must refund it as soon as practicable, and in any event not later than 5 working days from the commencement date. Whether the refund includes interest is a box you tick in the agreement.
3. If you and the landlord together cancel the tenancy for a reason that is not a term of the tenancy, you still pay the commission when you cancel.
4. If your agent works with other agents, you do not pay commission to those other agents.
5. Watch clause 5. If, during the period of validity, you (or your spouse, a nominee, or a similar person) sign directly with a landlord the agent has introduced, you still pay that agent, whether or not the tenancy goes through the agent. When you view a flat, Schedule 1 lists the properties. Each property has to be signed for separately.
6. Disclosure of an interest. The agent must disclose whether the person who signs, or a specified relative of that person, the agency, its employees, a substantial shareholder, or a similar person has a monetary interest or a beneficial interest in the property.
7. Information on the property. The agent must give you the prescribed information form for the letting, unless you expressly give it up. Do not give it up lightly.
8. After you sign, the agent must immediately give you an original or a copy of the signed agreement.

Checks before you sign

1. Who the landlord is. Check that the landlord's identity document matches the owner's name on a land search at the Land Registry. If someone signs for the landlord, there must be a written authority.
2. Whether the flat is mortgaged. The search shows this. If there is a mortgage, you can ask for a term in which the landlord warrants the right to let.
3. Use. Confirm that the use is residential. If premises used as a home are forbidden for residential use by law, or by the Government lease, the rent also cannot be claimed as a domestic rent deduction for salaries tax.
4. Vacant possession, and the list of furniture. Put both in a schedule to the tenancy, and keep photographs.

Terms to settle in the tenancy

1. The term, and whether it is split into a period that can be ended early and a period that cannot. The period that cannot be ended early is the part of the fixed term during which early termination is not allowed. Also record the notice for early termination, and whether compensation has to be paid.
2. The rent, the day it is paid, the method of payment, and who pays the management fee, the rates, and the Government rent.
3. The amount of the deposit, when it is returned, and the cases in which a deduction may be made. The summary of the guide lays down no statutory rule for the deposit. The tenancy governs.
4. Repairs. How major repairs (structure, pipes, wiring) and minor repairs are divided.
5. A right to renew, and how the renewal rent is worked out. The law does not secure a renewal. If you want a right to renew, it has to be a term of the tenancy.
6. Who pays the stamp duty, and how much each side pays. The tenancy must be stamped under the Stamp Duty Ordinance. If the tenancy is not stamped, the tenant cannot claim the domestic rent deduction for salaries tax.
7. Whether subletting is allowed, whether a pet is allowed, and whether the decoration may be altered.

The landlord's duty to file CR109

1. After the landlord lets the premises to a new tenant, or agrees with the tenant to renew the tenancy, the landlord must, within 1 month, submit form CR109 (notice of a new letting or of a renewal agreement) to the Commissioner of Rating and Valuation for endorsement. A late submission costs a fee of HK$310.
2. Until the Commissioner has endorsed the notice, the landlord has no right to sue for the rent.
3. The landlord may submit e-CR109 electronically on the Department's website.
4. What you do as the tenant. After you sign, ask the landlord for a copy of the endorsed CR109, and keep it.

When the landlord may forfeit the tenancy

If the tenancy has no term on the point, Part IV allows the landlord to forfeit the tenancy where the tenant does any of the following:

1. The rent is still unpaid 15 days after it fell due.
2. The premises are used for an immoral or an illegal purpose.
3. The landlord is caused unnecessary annoyance, inconvenience, or disturbance, including by rent that is persistently paid late.
4. The structure of the premises is altered without the landlord's consent.

Protections for the tenant

1. A receipt. After you pay the rent, the landlord or the principal tenant must give you a receipt. Taking rent without giving a receipt is unlawful.
2. Recovery of possession. Even after the tenancy has ended, if you do not leave, the landlord must obtain an order of the Lands Tribunal or of another court before recovering the premises.
3. Harassment. Forcing a tenant out without a court order, or driving a tenant out by threats, by violence, or by cutting off water, electricity, or gas, is a criminal offence. On a first conviction the court may impose a fine of HK$500,000 and imprisonment of 12 months. On a further conviction it may impose a fine of HK$1,000,000 and imprisonment of 3 years. The offender may also have to compensate the tenant. A sub-tenant has the same protection.
4. How a notice is served. By hand. By post to the last address that was given. By leaving it with an adult who lives in the premises. By posting it in a conspicuous place on the premises. Or through a designated electronic system (if neither party is the Government, the recipient must agree). Send an important notice by one of these methods, and keep the evidence.

Who to contact

1. The Rating and Valuation Department. It gives free tenancy advice to landlords and to tenants, it endorses notices of letting, and it handles tenancy complaints. The Department has staff on duty at the Lands Tribunal every day. It also gives tenancy advice at five District Offices.
2. A problem with an estate agent. You may ask the Estate Agents Authority, or complain to it.
3. Violence, or criminal harassment. Call the police.

A checklist for the day you sign

1. You have checked the landlord's identity against the land search.
2. Form 6 states the amount of the commission, when it is paid (the suggestion is to choose the start of the tenancy), and whether a refund of the commission includes interest.
3. You have checked each term: the term, the breakable period, termination, the deposit, repairs, renewal, and how the stamp duty is shared.
4. You have agreed who will arrange the stamping, and that the landlord submits CR109.
5. The inspection on vacant possession, the furniture list, and the photographs are attached to the tenancy.

Sources

• Rating and Valuation Department, page on the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (checked 19 October 2026)
• Rating and Valuation Department, summary of the guide to the Landlord and Tenant (Consolidation) Ordinance (checked 19 October 2026)
• Estate Agents Authority, estate agency agreement for leasing residential properties in Hong Kong, form 6 (Chinese version), and the page on prescribed forms (checked 19 October 2026)
• Inland Revenue Department, page on the tax deduction for domestic rent (checked 19 October 2026)