A building surveyor said on Tuesday that a government proposal for official inspectors to use infrared water leak detectors could result in the accurate detection of seepages sooner.

The move is part of a slate of new measures to streamline water seepage investigations that the government is mulling as part of a pilot scheme by the middle of the year to encourage landlords to address water leaks as soon as possible.

The thermal imaging will speed up preliminary inspections, as it allows workers from the Joint Office for Investigation of Water Seepage Complaints, set up by the food and environmental hygiene and buildings departments, to detect leaks without a need to enter the premises.

Speaking on an RTHK programme, Carmen Lai, chairwoman of the building division at the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, said use of the technology came with a low chance that a home would be misidentified as the source of a complaint, given that thermal imaging is a highly reliable technology that enables detection from outside.

"Actually, infrared thermal imaging is a very common technology," she said.

"It works by detecting temperature differences, which helps us accurately pinpoint where the water seepage is coming from and how large the affected area is."

As part of the complaints process upon infrared verification of flats being the source of seepages, a notification letter will be issued to owners to suggest they conduct self-inspections and improvement measures within 28 days.

If they do not carry out any repair work, they will than have to shoulder a HK$17,000 testing fee for government workers to carry out comprehensive and professional tests at the unit concerned.

Lai described the fee as “reasonable" but pointed out that the cost for testing and repair work generally depends on the complexity and location of seepages.

The streamlined process will also offer more incentives for homeowners or landlords to fix leaks sooner by alerting them to the problem and raising their sense of responsibility, she said.

Lai called on landlords to fix a leak once they have been alerted to it as the area affected can only increase in size and the problem worsen.

Property Management Services Authority chairman James Wong said on the same programme that his group welcomed the proposals.

This is because it has always been difficult for staff to enter a unit suspected of water seepage in a building to carry out inspections, he said, as some residents refuse to allow them to do so.



Edited by Thomas McAlinden