Serious misuse of public housing could be made a criminal offence, Housing Department sources said on Tuesday.

At present the toughest punishment for tenants who break the rules, for example by subletting their units or using them for business purposes, is eviction.

But plans are in place to amend the Housing Ordinance to allow the Housing Authority to prosecute offenders, with proposed fines of up to HK$500,000 and jail terms of up to a year.

It's understood the authority also wants officials to be given the power to check the identity of any suspicious people they encounter while carrying out inspections at public flats. Anyone who refuses to hand over their details could be fined HK$10,000 or imprisoned for six months.

Providing false statements to the authorities can already lead to prosecution, but officials want to extend the time period for bringing cases to court to six years after the offence, or one year after it is discovered, whichever comes first.

The authority's subsidised housing committee held a meeting on Tuesday morning to discuss the plans.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Cleresa Wong, who chairs the committee, said she believes the proposed legislation would have a deterrent effect.

“We do not propose to encompass all abuses under the new piece of legislation that we are proposing. We will only focus on the severe abuses and the reason is because if convicted, the people who are charged with these kinds of crimes would be criminalised, and they would have a criminal record. And so that, I think, is a deterrence,” she said.

The proposed legal amendments would not be applied retrospectively, it is believed.

“As a matter of law, legal principles, it is very rare for a government to introduce crimes with retrospective effect because this is somehow contrary to natural justice and fairness,” Wong said.

“I think that would have a very draconian effect and that should be avoided in my personal view.”

Sources said the proposals will be reviewed by Legco's housing panel next month and are still subject to change.

It’s believed the authority hopes to bring a bill to Legco for vetting in April.