Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak on Sunday said the government would enhance the city's property management systems through legislative amendments.

Her remarks came as authorities recorded more than 1,600 complaints against building management firms over the past five years.

Speaking on Commercial Radio, Mak said the rise showed home owners’ increasing awareness and care of the management of their properties.

Mak said the Home Affairs Department mainly played a supportive role in the past due to limited power.

But she said her bureau would propose changes to the Building Management Ordinance to the Legislative Council on Monday, including expanding the power of authorities to take action and reforming the owners' corporations' meeting arrangements and procurement procedures for major renovations.

“I believe in the current situation, people are expecting a high level of participation and strong support from us,” Mak said.

“As such, the difficulty we are facing is that the power we can exercise is limited under the current law. Our organisational and personnel structure also does not allow us to do so due to a manpower shortage. That’s why we are proposing, at the Legco meeting tomorrow, to deepen reforms of our building management work.”

Mak also said authorisation for non-owner representatives to attend owners' corporations’ meetings might still be needed for home owners who could not attend the meetings in person due to emigration or an advanced age.

But better supervision should be in place for such authorisations, she said.

Meanwhile, Mak said Hop On Management, the current manager of Wang Fuk Court, which was devastated in last November's fire, was in the process of handing over its custodian of the estate.

However, this would take longer than expected due to the complicated procedures involved.