Discounts will be offered to landlords who get their subdivided homes certified early under a proposed certification system, according to housing minister Winnie Ho.

The government announced last year a regulatory regime to manage the city's subdivided units and hope to kick-start the process by the end of this year or early 2026, depending on the legislation process.

Landlords will first have 12 months to declare their dwellings as "basic housing units". A grace period of 36 months will follow, not just to help owners complete certification, but also give tenants ample time to relocate if their flat is deemed unsuitable for living.

To certify as a basic housing unit, owners must hire a building professional who checks if the flat meets a set of prescribed requirements. If not, modifications will have to be made.

A fee is also payable to the government, and Ho explained why this was necessary in an interview with RTHK.

"The administrative fees generated by this exercise should not be borne by all taxpayers. We expect to fix the problems involving around 110,000 units within 36 months. There will be a lot of documents for my colleagues to go through. This is the duty of affected landlords, so we’re merely trying to recoup the costs," she said.

The housing chief said landlords who complete the certification in the first 12 months of the grace period will pay the least – or even nothing.

The fee then goes up in the second year, and rises again in the final year.

She expected the fee to be "a few thousand" dollars, with a final decision to be made later.

Asked about the likelihood that landlords will offload such costs to tenants, Ho pointed out they could turn to public housing units.

"There will be a lot of options for tenants. We have 20,000 transitional homes and 30,000 light public housing units. As for traditional public rental housing, 158,000 units will be completed in the next five years… If the rents (for basic housing units) become unreasonable, tenants will have a choice of moving elsewhere," she said.

The government has announced that each basic housing unit must also have a window facing the street or semi-enclosed light well for ventilation and lighting reasons. But after hearing views from stakeholders and conducting site visits, Ho confirmed officials may also consider accepting windows facing fully-enclosed light wells, citing constraints of old buildings.

She said there are about 2,000 such units around the city, and believes they won't constitute a hygiene issue as long as the light wells are kept clean.

Lawmakers will discuss the proposal at a Legislative Council panel next Monday, and Ho said she looks forward to any feedback to fine-tune the arrangements.