Nervous investors in Apex Horizon hotel suites seek police help

Four buyers who "trusted Li Ka-shing" and paid deposits for suites in Cheung Kong's controversial hotel project appear to have had second thoughts and turned to the police for help.

Between them they bought three units at the Apex Horizon in Kwai Chung in a provisional agreement reached last Wednesday, but it emerged yesterday that they were given what a lawmaker called a "surprisingly short" six days to conclude formal agreements - by tomorrow.

With the government examining sales of the 360 units - the result of a legal loophole allowing hotels to be sold in parts - the buyers demanded a postponement in the contract deadline and asked the developer to clear their doubts as to their "equivocal" ownership rights.

The project is controversial because it is the first time in Hong Kong that a developer has sold hotel suites, classified as commercial property, so buyers do not have to pay stamp duty.

A middle-aged woman investor said: "I trusted Li Ka-shing that this would be OK. But now, the lawyers' advice differed from what Cheung Kong has said.

"I was told I could live there before signing the provisional agreement," she said outside Kwai Chung police station. "But the lawyers have told us afterwards that we couldn't decide [the lessee]."

They were told the suites could be rented out for "short-term leases". "So how long can I lease out? A year?" she asked.