Good deal for all? Can Hong Kong urban renewal body’s payout review fix problems?
Cash-strapped Urban Renewal Authority is reviewing compensation scheme for flat owners forced out by redevelopment. But is a wider rethink needed?
Beatrice Mok* and her husband have mixed feelings about moving out of their crumbling old tenement building in To Kwa Wan, a Hong Kong district they have lived in for around four decades.
The couple, both in their sixties, are finding the thought of bidding farewell to their quiet waterfront neighbourhood, dubbed the “five streets”, hard but the trek up the stairs of their eight-storey building, as well as dealing with bits of falling concrete and water leakage in their flat, also leaves them feeling exhausted.
Three years on, the couple are set to receive around HK$6.5 million for their 470 sq ft flat, an amount equivalent to the market price of a comparable seven-year-old home in the district.
They intend to use the money for travel and to rent a flat as their new home.
“We want to live a simpler life as we are getting older, and our health is declining … We rely on our savings for a living. With cash in hand, our days will be easier,” Mok said.
The couple are likely to be among the last batches of owner-occupiers receiving compensation under the “seven-year rule”, as the cash-strapped URA is reviewing such payouts, deeming them “very generous” compared with the market value of old buildings.