The Ombudsman on Thursday criticised the Buildings Department for its serious delays in taking enforcement actions against illegal structures on village houses.

In a report, Ombudsman Winnie Chiu noted that the department had launched a scheme in 2018 to inspect all village houses across the city.

But as of December 2021, only about 45 percent of villages had been looked at, with the department saying it may take another decade to complete the inspection work.

The government watchdog also pointed out that even though the department had issued 5,384 removal orders as of the end of 2021, more than 37 percent remained outstanding despite the deadline for removal having already passed.

“The Buildings Department’s failure to take timely action after issuing a removal order would likely convey a wrong message to the owner concerned that there would be no legal consequences for non-compliance,” the report said.

“The owner might even have a false expectation that the Buildings Department had accepted the existence of the unauthorised building works.”

The Ombudsman noted that while the department had been able to meet its performance pledge to inspect a site within 48 hours of receiving a report, it took officials nine to 18 months to issue a removal order afterwards.

Chiu described this as “an obvious failure to meet the objective of taking immediate enforcement action”, adding that officials had “in a way encouraged non-compliant owners to delay fulfilling their legal responsibilities”.

She made a number of recommendations, including advising the department to set clear internal targets for its inspection operations, streamline enforcement procedures, and step up the monitoring of follow-up actions.

The department has also been asked to step up its prosecution work against persistent non-compliant owners.