Cap. 116 Art. 9Dwelling houses let furnished.

(1) The provisions contained in this Ordinance shall apply to any dwelling house let furnished, without any regard being had to the furniture, and the difference between the rent so established and the rent agreed upon between landlord and tenant shall be deemed to be the rent of the furniture.

(2) Any tenant of a furnished dwelling house at his option may at any time apply to the Board to establish the fair rent of the furniture, provided that any adjustment of rent that may be decided upon by the Board shall not be effective except as from the first due day of rent falling after the tenant’s application has been filed; and provided that the option so granted may not be availed of more than once by the same tenant in respect of the same tenancy, whether as originally agreed upon or as renewed from time to time.

(3) On such an application being made, the Board shall, in every case, appoint an appraiser to value the net proceeds that would probably accrue from a free sale at auction of the furniture. The appraiser’s fee and outgoings shall be borne provisionally by the tenant, over and above any fee that he may be required to pay under article 10.

(4) The Board shall fix the fair rent of the furniture at fifteen per centum a year of the appraised value thereof: Provided that in no case shall such fair rent of the furniture exceed -

(i) in the case of an old house in which no structural alterations or additions not chargeable to the war damage account have been effected after 31st March, 1939, the fair rent of the house as unfurnished, assessed in accordance with the provisions of this Ordinance;

(ii) in the case of an old house in which structural alterations or additions not chargeable to the war damage account have been effected after 31st March, 1939, the fair rent of the house as unfurnished increased by seven per centum of the increase of rent, if any, which the Board under the provisions of this Ordinance may assess or have assessed in view of those structural by seven per centum: Provided further that in assessing the rent of a furnished house the Board, at the request of the tenant and after hearing the landlord, may at its discretion order that for purposes of computation of the rent of the furniture no consideration shall be taken of any one or more articles of furniture specified by it which are neither reasonably necessary to the furnishing of the house nor in keeping, with regard to quality and to commercial value, with the greater part of the other articles of furniture in the same house; and on such an order being made by the Board, the landlord shall have the option to remove from the house in question at his own expense and at any reasonable hour of which he shall give not less than twenty-four hours’ notice in writing to the tenant the article or articles not taken into consideration in connection with the computation of the rent.

(5) Bearing in mind the extent to which the rent fixed under the provisions of this article approximates or otherwise to the rent previously paid or agreed upon, the Board shall determine whether the fee and outgoings of the appraiser shall be borne finally by the tenant or by the landlord or in specified proportions by both.

(6) The provisions of articles 3, 8, 9, 10, 11, 13, 15 and 27 article 25(2) of the Reletting of Urban Property (Regulation) Ordinance shall apply to dwelling houses let furnished.