In late January 2020, the Joint Office at Sha Tin District (currently known as the New Territories East Regional Joint Office) (JO) received a complaint concerning water seepage to the ceiling of a flat in a housing estate in Ma On Shan.

The occupant living in a flat on an upper floor called to ask the JO staff about the follow-up procedures as there was water dripping from the ceiling of the bathroom at the flat downstairs.  The JO had to postpone the date of visiting the flats because government departments had implemented special work arrangement and reduced the amount of outside work under the severe novel coronavirus epidemic situation at that time.  Nevertheless, after learning the situation of the flats through telephone conversation, the JO staff believed that the dripping might be caused by defective water supply pipes and advised the occupant of the flat upstairs to conduct a flow meter test himself/herself.  The JO staff explained the test procedures to the occupant step by step, which helped to check if the water supply system of the flat under complaint was defective.  The occupant was pleased to accept the advice.

Several days later, the JO staff called the occupant of the flat upstairs to follow up the test result.  As expected, the test result was positive, meaning that the water supply system was defective.  The JO staff advised the occupant to engage a qualified person to inspect the water supply system of the flat and to conduct necessary repairs as soon as possible.

Immediately after the repair work was completed, the JO staff visited the flat downstairs and conducted a moisture content test.  The result showed that there was no dripping at the ceiling of the bathroom and the moisture content was below 35%.  The water seepage problem was resolved.

In this case, the occupant living in the flat upstairs had known his/her neighbour living downstairs for many years.  In order to maintain a harmonious relationship between neighbours, the occupant took the initiative to seek help from the JO and was willing to try to identify the source of water seepage.  With the effective coordination and guidance offered by the JO, the water seepage problem was resolved eventually.  The case officer and his/her superior were very honoured to have received the appreciation expressed by the occupant, which was considered as a great encouragement.