The Office of the Ombudsman announced on Thursday it had launched an investigation into how the government recovers public rental housing flats, in a bid to speed up the reallocation of units.

The Housing Authority aims to take 44 days to refurbish a vacant flat, according to its key performance indicator (KPI).

Ombudsman Jack Chan pointed out that even though the average time taken in the past three years was close to the authority's KPI, refurbishment work for some flats took more than two times longer. The longest one took over six months.

He was also concerned that procedures for tenancy abuse appeals took too long.

Meanwhile, the Ombudsman also revealed it had received complaints about authorities failing to dispose of items of outgoing tenants properly, as well as throwing away tenants' items without consent.

The Housing Authority allocated around 23,600 flats in the 2023-24 period, 19,700 of which were recovered units.

The public has until October 14 to give their views.