Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme (MWIS) guide

The Mandatory Window Inspection Scheme (MWIS) is a Buildings Department (BD) scheme that makes owners of older buildings have their windows inspected and, where needed, repaired. It only applies once BD serves you a statutory notice. When you get one, you must appoint a Qualified Person (QP) and complete the inspection and any repair within 6 months for windows in your own flat, or 9 months for windows in the common parts.

Which buildings get an MWIS notice

BD’s MWIS overview says the scheme covers buildings aged 10 years or above, except domestic buildings of no more than 3 storeys. Not every such building gets a notice. BD selects target buildings and serves notices on their owners. The overview page says BD selects 5,800 target buildings a year, in quarterly batches of 1,450.

A selection panel advises BD. It includes representatives from BD, professional institutions, non-government organisations, property management professionals and District Councils. Selection is risk-based: records of fallen windows, the condition of the windows and building clusters all count, and buildings whose windows are generally defective or dilapidated may get priority.

The inspection covers all windows and glass louvres in individual flats and in the common parts, including window walls. BD’s scope and standards page sets out what the QP checks. Notices are served under section 30C of the Buildings Ordinance, and the scheme has been fully in force since 30 June 2012.

The 5-year cycle

Once a notice has been complied with, BD cannot serve a fresh MWIS notice for the same window until 5 years after the date of that earlier notice. That is a minimum gap, not a timetable. A new notice may come later, and it only comes if your building is selected again. Keep a copy of the completed certificate so you can show when the last notice was dealt with.

Deadlines after a notice

The time limit covers the inspection and any repair the QP finds necessary, so appoint early. The limits come from BD’s MWIS procedures page.

Step by step

1. Read the notice. Check whether it covers your flat, the common parts or both, and note the date, because the deadline runs from it.
2. Appoint a Qualified Person. Choose someone on one of the BD registers listed below and check the name before you sign.
3. Inspection. The QP must carry out the inspection personally and decide whether any window has been rendered dangerous or is liable to become dangerous.
4. Repair, if needed. Appoint a registered general building contractor, or a registered minor works contractor registered for window works, to repair under the QP’s supervision. BD says all defective window components affecting window safety must be repaired or replaced.
5. Certificate to BD. The QP submits the specified form to BD for record and audit check.

Forms WI1, WI2 and WI3

The forms are on BD’s MWIS forms page. Each one is a notification of the QP’s appointment combined with a certificate:

• Form WI1: one QP does the inspection and supervises any repair. Submitted within 14 days after completion.
• Form WI2: certificate of inspection where different QPs handle inspection and repair. Submitted within 7 days after the inspection is completed.
• Form WI3: certificate of repair where a different QP supervises the repair.

Who can be your Qualified Person

BD’s qualified persons page says the QP must be on one of these registers: Authorized Person, Registered Structural Engineer, Registered Inspector, registered general building contractor, or registered minor works contractor registered for the class, type and item of minor works for windows.

Since 15 February 2016, BD has issued QP cards showing the QP’s name, photo, dates of issue and expiry, and, for contractors, the contractor’s name. You can check names on the qualified persons search or BD’s WIN SAFE app. This is a different role from the Registered Inspector who handles a Mandatory Building Inspection Scheme notice.

Penalties and what BD can do

BD’s owners and OCs page sets out the consequences:

• An owner who fails to comply without reasonable excuse may first be served a penalty notice with a fixed fine of HK$1,500.
• Repeated offenders may be prosecuted and are liable to a fine of HK$25,000 and 3 months’ imprisonment, plus HK$2,000 for each day the offence continues.
• Obstructing or refusing access to someone the OC has engaged for the inspection or repair carries a fine of HK$10,000 and 6 months’ imprisonment.
• Refusing, without reasonable excuse, to contribute to the OC’s costs for common-parts work under the notice is an offence.
• BD can have its own consultant and contractor do the work, then recover the cost, a supervision charge and a surcharge from the owners or OC.

Before you appoint

• Check the QP’s name on the BD search, not on a flyer or a quote.
• Make sure the repair contractor is registered for window works, not just for other minor works items. Our guides to registered contractors and searching BD registers explain the lists.
• Do not confuse an MWIS notice with an MBIS notice. They have different deadlines and need different appointments.
• For common parts, start through the OC early. The 9 months includes any repair.

Some practices in our architecture directory have Authorized Persons who may act as QP. A listing there is not a BD appointment. Check the named person.