Illegal accommodation bill | 90 days of authorization to stay is ‘decisive’
The number of days that people are authorized to stay in Macau is the decisive criteria chosen by the government to decide whether people lodging outside hotel units can be considered illegal accommodation, the president of the First Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL), Ella Lei, informed yesterday in a media briefing following a meeting between the committee members and government representatives.
According to lawmaker Lei, the government has justified the choice of the 90 days permit rather than the type of visa that people hold at the entry in Macau based on the experience collected over the years and taking into account registered infractions.
Acknowledging that not all committee members agree with this criterion and have questioned the government on the matter, the president added that the criterion also follows the provisions of the new immigration law that entered into force this year.
“According to government’s reply [to the questions of the committee members], [the adoption of the 90 days criteria] comes from the immigration law, which creates the possibility of several special visas (that did not exist before) and also allows the permanence in Macau of non-resident workers (TNR) in different situations,” Lei said, adding, “This is also coming from the experience collected, which pointed [to the fact] that the majority of the offenders were people holding visas below 90 days.”
The lawmaker also repeated that there are people from Hong Kong and some countries to whom permanence in Macau can be granted for up to one year, stating, “what we are trying to do it to restrict the possibility for people on short stays to engage in house rental systems that constitute illegal hostel lodging.”
As noted by the committee president, when the new law enters into force, landlords or other entities, including real estate agencies, will be legally barred from renting housing units or parts of housing units to anyone holding a permit to stay in Macau for 90 days or less.
“These people will need to stay in licensed hotels or hostels units or, in case they come to visit family members or friends, they are allowed to do so as long as they can stay in their friends’ or family’s houses,” Lei remarked.
Family and friendsí
loophole
The possibility of people still being able to be lodged in their family and friends’ houses was another of the concerns expressed by several lawmakers, who criticized the fact as a potential loophole in the law, allowing people to continue to provide lodging illegally.
On this topic, the Macao Government Tourism Office (MGTO) responded that, although there is always a possibility of people breaching the law or finding ways to go around it, the main goal of the MGTO is to tackle the large majority of issues.
The office also said that while it was investigating potential illegal accommodation cases, the 42 inspectors from the MGTO will question those involved to ensure that they have a real family or friendship relationship with the people with whom they are staying.
In these cases, the people lodged at family homes cannot be paying the owners or tenants any fees for their lodging, otherwise it will be considered illegal hosteling.
Lack of legal contract on
renting can be targeted
Another of the provisions of the new law that aims to stop illegal accommodation is related to housing rental contracts. According to Lei, this is one of the few exceptions to the 90 days permit: cases in which people, although holding a longer than 90 days authorization to stay in Macau, are renting a housing unit without a tenancy contract legally registered and without property tax paid to the Financial Services Bureau. In this case, the unit owners can still be targeted under the provisions of illegal accommodation, the president of the committee said, noting that other exceptions are conceded only to the lodging of guests made by tertiary education providers and religious institutions.
Over 90% of fines issued over illegal accommodation remain unpaid
Over the past 11 years of law enforcement related to illegal accommodation, the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has issued a total of 2,309 fines to offenders. Of these, a staggering 91.5% remain unpaid, the president of the First Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL), Ella Lei, informed yesterday in a media briefing following a meeting from the committee members with government representatives.
According to Lei, these figures come from a report made by the government to the committee members yesterday, at which they summarized the works done and results achieved under the current law which is being amended by the government now.
Citing these figures, Lei noted that only 195 out of over 2,300 fines issued, related to 2,916 processes, had been settled by the offenders.
In response to the questions of lawmakers, the MGTO explained that, in many of the cases, the offenders were found to be people with no residency in Macau or any assets that MGTO could target to pursue the payment of the fines.
Over the 11 years, the MGTO had performed a total of 13,362 inspections of suspicious housing units and sealed 1,808 due to the fact that they were found to be providing illegal accommodation. Lei also noted that, according to information of the MGTO, some of these units have been targeted with inspections more than once, resulting in sealing actions also on more than one occasion.
Statistics collected also show that 80.1% of the offenders in all the cases were non-residents and the large majority were people from the mainland who rented or sub-rented housing units in Macau for such purposes.
According to the MGTO, a mechanism has been also established among several government departments that notify the MGTO of any suspicious use of housing units as illegal hostels in cases related to other inspections by these departments of these units.
Such a mechanism, which includes the Public Security Police Force as well as the Fire Services Bureau, “has proven to be very effective,” Lei said, citing MGTO conclusions.RM Over the past 11 years of law enforcement related to illegal accommodation, the Macau Government Tourism Office (MGTO) has issued a total of 2,309 fines to offenders. Of these, a staggering 91.5% remain unpaid, the president of the First Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly (AL), Ella Lei, informed yesterday in a media briefing following a meeting from the committee members with government representatives.
According to Lei, these figures come from a report made by the government to the committee members yesterday, at which they summarized the works done and results achieved under the current law which is being amended by the government now.
Citing these figures, Lei noted that only 195 out of over 2,300 fines issued, related to 2,916 processes, had been settled by the offenders.
In response to the questions of lawmakers, the MGTO explained that, in many of the cases, the offenders were found to be people with no residency in Macau or any assets that MGTO could target to pursue the payment of the fines.
Over the 11 years, the MGTO had performed a total of 13,362 inspections of suspicious housing units and sealed 1,808 due to the fact that they were found to be providing illegal accommodation. Lei also noted that, according to information of the MGTO, some of these units have been targeted with inspections more than once, resulting in sealing actions also on more than one occasion.
Statistics collected also show that 80.1% of the offenders in all the cases were non-residents and the large majority were people from the mainland who rented or sub-rented housing units in Macau for such purposes.
According to the MGTO, a mechanism has been also established among several government departments that notify the MGTO of any suspicious use of housing units as illegal hostels in cases related to other inspections by these departments of these units.
Such a mechanism, which includes the Public Security Police Force as well as the Fire Services Bureau, “has proven to be very effective,” Lei said, citing MGTO conclusions.RM
