The Housing Society said on Saturday it would start sending out a new round of tenancy agreements requiring well-off residents to pay extra rent, with elderly households being the last batch to get the new contracts.

Society chairman Ling Kar-kan also said tenants at large understood the need for the new agreement, which requires them to regularly report their income and asset levels.

From September, the rental terms would be sent out to some 25,000 households yet to be covered by the "well-off tenants policy".

"We forecast that the complete replacement of the old tenancy agreements with the new ones will be completed within a year," Ling said after a radio programme.

"We will carry this out in phases...essentially, we will start with the oldest estates.

"At the same time, we also understand that some households with elderly [individuals] may have difficulties understanding the whole arrangement.

"Therefore, those households that only have elderly tenants have been put in the last phase for implementation."

First introduced in 2018, the policy requires tenants whose household incomes exceed a certain limit to pay extra rent.