Mandatory Building Inspection Subsidy Scheme (MBISS)
[Application for the “Mandatory Building Inspection Subsidy Scheme” has been closed on 31 March 2024]
Purpose
Full implementation of the Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme (MBIS) was commenced on 30 June 2012. Owners of buildings aged 30 or above are required to carry out inspections of their buildings, including common parts, external walls, projections and signboards, once every 10 years. To assist owners in complying with the statutory requirements, Hong Kong Housing Society (HKHS) and Urban Renewal Authority (URA) launch the Mandatory Building Inspection Subsidy Scheme (MBISS) to provide financial assistance to eligible owners.
With effect from 9 July 2018, the URA had been fully responsible for handling all new MBISS applications, including the areas originally served by HKHS, thereby extending its service area for MBISS to cover the whole of Hong Kong.
Eligibility
Buildings intended for participation of Mandatory Building Inspection Subsidy Scheme (the Scheme) must meet all of the following requirements:
1. Private residential (including those owned by Civil Servants’ Cooperative Building Society (CBS)) or composite (commercial and residential) buildings aged 30 years or above, except buildings not exceeding three storeys, New Territories Exempted Houses and those in single ownership. The age and use of the buildings stated on Occupation Permit shall be treated as conclusive;
2. The average annual rateable value limit of domestic units must not exceed $187,000 p.a. for properties in the urban areas (including Shatin, Kwai Tsing and Tsuen Wan); or $143,000 p.a. for properties in the New Territories; and
3. A “Statutory Notice on Mandatory Building Inspection” (for common parts of the building) served by the Buildings Department (BD) / Independent Checking Unit (ICU) to the owners’ corporation (OC) or the building has been received; and
4. An inspector registered under Buildings Ordinance (Registered Inspector (RI)) must be engaged to be in charge of prescribed inspection and the application must be submitted before tendering for appointment of such aforementioned person.
Owner's organisations and Applicant's Representatives
If:
(i) An OC has been formed for the building, the OC shall be the entity submitting the application to the URA.
(ii) OC has not been formed for the building (including buildings held by CBS), the application must be submitted by all owners collectively or by CBS (if appropriate) being the Applicant. Please refer to “Application Notes for building without Owners’ Corporation” in Annex I of the Integrated Building Rehabilitation Assistance Scheme (IBRAS) application form for the eligibility criteria and application details.
Subsidy Amount
The cap of the amount of subsidy will be determined based on the total number of all residential and commercial units identified in the same DMC. In the case where BD/ICU does not allow all the buildings under one DMC into the same batch of the MBIS target building list, the cap will be determined by the number of units of all buildings covered under the subject “Statutory Notice on Mandatory Building Inspection” served by BD/ICU.
| Number of units | Subsidy amount |
| 20 or less | up to $25,000 |
| 21 to 49 | up to $35,000 |
| 50 to 200 | up to $60,000 |
| 201 or above | up to $100,000 |
Use of Subsidy
- Confines to the expenses on the first Prescribed Inspection for common parts conducted by a Registered Inspector according to relevant statutory requirements and the Code of Practice for the MBIS & Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme (MWIS).
- If the actual expenses of Prescribed Inspection of building do not exceed the subsidy cap and the owners have received Statutory Notice(s) on the MBIS and MWIS at the same time, any remaining subsidy may be used to employ the same Registered Inspector or Registered Inspector / Qualified Person in the same company to conduct the Prescribed Inspection of windows in common parts.
Areas NOT covered by the Subsidy
- Other expenses such as the cost of Detailed Inspection, Prescribed Repair works for the buildings as well as inspection and repair of window in private units.
- Individual applications for subsidy solely for inspection on items of MWIS items or non-common parts of the buildings.
For further information of Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme, please click here to browse the website of "Care for your building" from Buildings Department.