Why some Wang Fuk Court owners have refused buy-back deal even as deadline nears

As the deadline approaches for homeowners to accept the Hong Kong government’s deal to buy back their flats at fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court, some who refuse to sell have said the offer cannot make up for the loss of their property and communal bonds. With the clock ticking to the August 31 cut-off date, the South China Morning Post spoke to six residents determined not to sell their homes at the devastated Tai Po estate, even though experts say the government’s offer is generous and compulsory acquisition would result in a lower price. The six residents are among the 3.5 per cent of homeowners – about 70 people – who have not accepted the offer, under which the government will buy flats at HK$8,000 (US$1,020) or HK$10,500 per square foot, depending on whether the land premium has been paid. Vincent Ho Kui-yip, a former president of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, described the acquisition price as a “generous offer”, noting that Wang Fuk Court was more than four decades old. The proposed price exceeded recent transaction levels for other Home Ownership Scheme flats in the same district, he added. Pre-fire estimates by the institute put the market value of flats in the eight-block estate at about HK$6,000 to HK$8,000 per square foot. Owners can use the cash to buy a flat on the open market or join a special sales programme for a subsidised home, using cash or a flat-for-flat exchange. While most owners opted to accept the offer and move on, some of the holdouts said they were not waiting for a better deal but for the chance to return to the homes they were forced to flee. Among them was Lucia Cheung, a 40-year-old resident of the worst-hit block, Wang Cheong House, who lost both parents in the blaze. Cheung said that between obtaining death certificates, digging through ashes for keepsakes and calming her traumatised son, she was exhausted. “I do not have any energy to deal with the buyout. I did not even open the letter of acceptance [sent by the government],” she said. “Some families of the deceased do not want to go back any more, and I respect that. But I cannot let it go. My parents are gone. I cannot bear that the proof of their existence is gone too.” Her working-class parents, first-batch owners in the 1980s, poured their savings into the flat and raised her son there after she married and moved out, she said, calling it “our ancestral home”. Cheung said the government offer could leave her roughly HK$1 million short of the value of a comparable two-room flat in Kai Tak or Fanling near the MTR, after accounting for price differences, renovations and stamp duty. With much of the family’s cash savings burned in the fire, she said the shortfall was a heavy burden with her husband as the sole breadwinner. The deadliest fire in the city in decades tore through seven of the eight blocks last November, killing 168 people and displacing some 5,000 residents. The government announced in February it would spend about HK$6.8 billion to acquire the flats in the seven blocks. In June, it extended the buy-back offer to the only unaffected block, Wang Chi House, adding another HK$1 billion to the scheme’s cost. It also ruled out on-site redevelopment. Another resident, Shirley Keung, in her thirties, said she moved from nearby Kwong Fuk Estate into Wang Kin House with her parents and three siblings a few years ago. As Wang Kin House was less damaged than some other blocks, Keung said she was pinning her hopes on a building inspection report, waiting to see if repairs were possible. “I will wait for the report to tell me whether my building is truly unfit for living. Then I can make a well-informed decision,” she said. “If it can be repaired, I am willing to share the cost.” Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said last Sunday that the government’s offer was already 30 per cent above the pre-fire value and would not be negotiated, as in a private sale. He acknowledged that some residents felt it was insufficient but warned that compulsory acquisition would yield substantially lower compensation. Another Wang Kin House resident, Mabel Wong, said she was not bargaining for money but for the right to return home. “We only ask to return to a home that is nowhere else, and no amount of money can replace,” she said. Ross Leung, 33, bought his Wang Chi House flat with a mortgage that he is still repaying. “You cannot measure all units with the same price. My unit has a sea view and was bought at a higher price,” he said, arguing that the government’s offer was 20 per cent lower than the price he paid for the flat. “Why are we not allowed to return? Instead we are thrown into a scheme where residents have to fight each other for scraps, desperately competing for a comparable flat,” he said. “Resorting to compulsory acquisition will be a loss not just for Wang Fuk Court, but for Hong Kong, which prides itself on a private property market and rights.” A retiree surnamed Wong from Wang Kin House moved to Guangdong province after being displaced. He bought a flat across the border before the fire and chose to stay there for a better living environment. Wong said he was prepared for the worst if legislation for a forced sale drove prices down, with his life savings to fall back on. “I will not sell even if the price drops to zero. This entire buyout is unfair,” he said. A Wang Chi House resident surnamed Xiong, 58, bought her 10th-floor flat in 2003. A confinement nanny, she said she was too drained by the disaster to continue working, and her husband was being treated in a psychiatric hospital because of the fire. “I am willing to pay for repairs, but that option was never raised,” she said. “This is worse than the 44 hours I waited for the fire to die down. Then I still had hope I could return home. Now that hope is wiped out.”

Why some Wang Fuk Court owners have refused buy-back deal even as deadline nears

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}While acquisition price for flats at fire-ravaged estate is seen as generous, about 3.5 per cent of homeowners have not accepted offer

While acquisition price for flats at fire-ravaged estate is seen as generous, about 3.5 per cent of homeowners have not accepted offer