Renovation FAQ

Why you cannot judge this yourself

How thick or thin a wall looks on the floor plan, or tapping it and listening, is not a way of verifying anything. The Buildings Department's position is that whether a wall is a structural wall (commonly called a load-bearing wall) must be checked against the building's original approved drawings, which the public can view through the Buildings Department's Building Records Access and Viewing On-line (BRAVO) service. Whether a wall carries load depends on the structural design of the whole building; thickness alone does not tell you.

Which professionals must be involved

The Buildings Department states that where works involve removing or altering a structural wall, the owner must appoint an Authorized Person (AP) and a Registered Structural Engineer (RSE) to assess whether the works are feasible and to submit building drawings to the Buildings Department; only after approval and consent may a registered contractor carry them out. Under the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123), Authorized Persons are divided into architect, engineer and surveyor lists, and the registers can be viewed on the Buildings Department website.

What happens if the wrong wall comes down

• It can weaken the structural safety of the whole building, and the effect is not limited to your own flat.
• The work is unauthorised building works, and the Buildings Department can serve a statutory order requiring reinstatement or remedial work, at the owner's cost.
• Knowingly carrying out building works without approval carries a maximum penalty of a fine of HK$400,000 and two years' imprisonment; where the manner of the works creates a risk of personal injury or damage to property, the maximum is a fine of HK$1,000,000 and three years' imprisonment.
• It also affects the sale of the property, mortgages and insurance.

What owners should do

• Obtain and read the flat's approved drawings before signing a contract.
• Where the design alters a wall, ask the contractor to set out in writing how this was verified.
• Whether a particular wall can be removed has to be judged by a professional after an inspection on site.

1. Exempted works (no prior approval required)

Under section 41(3) of the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123), building works carried out inside a building and does not involve the structure of the building (other than minor works) are exempted from approval: there is no need to obtain the Buildings Department's prior approval of drawings and consent to commence work. The Buildings Department's examples include plastering, laying tile finishes, painting, wallpapering, and repairing or replacing sanitary fitments. What is exempted is only the prior approval step; the works themselves must still meet the statutory standards for structural safety, fire safety and drainage.

2. The Minor Works Control System

Under the Building (Minor Works) Regulation (Cap. 123N), minor works are divided by their nature, scale, complexity and safety risk intoClass I, II and III (Class I is the most complex). Under the Buildings Department's current arrangements:

• Class I: a prescribed building professional and a prescribed registered contractor must be appointed, and the submission must be made at least 7 days before the works commence.
• Class II: a prescribed registered contractor must be appointed, and the submission must be made at least 7 days before the works commence.
• Class III: a prescribed registered contractor must be appointed, and no prior submission is required.
• For all three classes, submission is required within 14 days of completion.

3. Works that require formal submission of drawings

Alterations and additions that fall into neither of the two categories above, such as altering a structural wall, forming an opening in a floor slab, adding a staircase or certain open-kitchen conversions, must be handled byAuthorized Person (together with a Registered Structural Engineer where needed) to prepare drawings for submission to the Buildings Department, and only after approval and consent to commence work may a registered contractor carry them out. Which category a particular job falls into depends on the actual condition of the flat and on its approved drawings.

Why enclosed kitchens exist

The walls enclosing a kitchen (commonly called a "fixed kitchen") often carried two roles at once in the original design: they may be structural walls, and they may also provide fire resistance as a separation that slows the spread of fire and protects occupants as they escape. Removing an enclosed kitchen is therefore not an interior design question alone; it runs into two lines of law at once, structural and fire safety.

What removing one can breach

• If the wall is a structural wall, removing it alters the building's structure: an Authorized Person must co-ordinate the work, a Registered Structural Engineer must assess it, and the Buildings Department must give approval and consent.
• If the conversion falls neither within the section 41(3) exemption nor within the simplified minor works procedure, an Authorized Person must prepare the drawings and make a formal application to the Buildings Department; without that, the work is unauthorised building works.
• A semi-open layout (removing only the kitchen door and part of the partition wall) is regulated in the same way.

What the fire code actually requires

An open kitchen must comply with the Buildings Department's Code of Practice for Fire Safety in Buildings, which sets specific technical requirements for fire separation, fire detection and automatic fire suppression, and those requirements change with the position of the kitchen relative to the exit from the flat. The Code has been revised a number of times, so the provisions that actually apply must be taken from the current edition and from the flat's approved drawings, as assessed by an Authorized Person. Note also that some older buildings originally built with enclosed kitchens have no automatic sprinkler system; adding one involves the common parts of the building, and the procedure is far more complex.

The role of the deed of mutual covenant and the management office

A building's deed of mutual covenant usually sets out whether a flat may be altered structurally and whether the manager's or other owners' consent is needed; some also specify the type of cooking appliance allowed. The Code itself does not require cooking to be either open-flame or flameless. Whether an open flame is possible depends on the position of the fire barriers, the size of the flat and the distance between the appliance and the escape exit, and is for an Authorized Person to assess.

What an RPE is

A Registered Professional Engineer (RPE) is an engineer registered under the Engineers Registration Ordinance (Cap. 409). That Ordinance establishes the Engineers Registration Board, which keeps the register and prescribes the engineering disciplines, sets the standards of qualification for registration and vets applications. Registration carries prescribed qualification requirements and renewal arrangements, and registration records can be checked with the Engineers Registration Board.

One point that has to be made

RPE is not the same asan Authorized Person (AP) or a Registered Structural Engineer (RSE) under the Buildings Ordinance. Submitting drawings for approval, signing drawings and statutory supervision must be undertaken by the AP/RSE.

Where the difference actually lies

• A different starting point: Faced with altering a wall, forming an opening or adding structure, an engineer trained in structures first asks what that wall does in the original design.
• Knowing when a job must move into the statutory process: They can tell which designs have to go through the AP/RSE submission process.
• Professional accountability: A registered engineer is bound by the Ordinance and by the discipline of the registration body, so their judgement can be traced back.

Background figures on the trade

The Consumer Council's February 2024 study on home renovation reports that between 2017 and 2023 it received 1,205 complaints, involving more than HK$270 million; in its mystery shopper survey, three quarters of the renovation companies advised that a wall could be removed after looking at the floor plan alone, with no further check on what the wall is. That points to a compliance gap across the trade.

The regulatory regime itself is different

Most New Territories village houses are New Territories Exempted Houses (NTEHs) — houses exempted under the Buildings Ordinance (Application to the New Territories) Ordinance (Cap. 121) and therefore outside parts of the Buildings Ordinance (Cap. 123). They include the small houses built by indigenous villagers under the Small House Policy. The exemption holds only so long as the specified limits are met.

The structural limits are absolute

Under Lands Department guidance, an NTEH must be no more than three storeys, heightno more than 8.23 m (27 ft), roofed-over areano more than 65.03 sq m (700 sq ft), and the thickness of the load-bearing walls is prescribed as well. Any addition or alteration that goes beyond the specified height or roofed-over area is enough to cause the exemption to lapse— not only are the works themselves unauthorized building works, the whole house becomes an unauthorized building as well. This is the most basic difference from a flat in an estate: in an estate a breach is usually confined to the works in question, whereas in a village house it can affect the entire house.

Rooftops, additions and the risk of unauthorised works

Enclosing a rooftop, adding storeys and extending beyond the external walls are all common in village houses, and all are high-risk. On 1 April 2026 the Buildings Department relaunched the Reporting Scheme for Unauthorised Building Works in New Territories Exempted Houses (the reporting period runs to 31 March 2027). It applies only to works built before 28 June 2011 that are lower-risk and are not first-round enforcement targets, and it carries a continuing duty to arrange a safety inspection every five years.

Drainage and the works procedure

Building, site formation and drainage works for an NTEH require an application to the District Lands Office of the district concerned forCertificate of Exemption; starting work without one is a breach, and also a breach of the land lease conditions, on which the Lands Department may issue a warning letter and register it at the Land Registry (commonly called an encumbrance on the title). Owners should approach the District Lands Office before work starts, to make sure the proposed drainage system meets the requirements.