If owners remove tenants to grab all the cash, compensation could be restricted
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) is reviewing its policies to deter flat-owners from removing their tenants in soon-to-be-developed areas so they can grab all the compensation. It says only minimum compensation may be paid.
Tenants of a 40-year-old Kwun Tong property have complained they are being forced out by its owner, a company controlled by tycoon Henry Fok Ying-tung - a move made possible by a recent amendment to the Landlord and Tenant Ordinance. The tenants were told last month their leases would be terminated in a year.
The compensation payable for resuming Yue Man Mansion - which is on the URA's priority list for renewal - will all go to the owner if there are no tenants.
Yue Man tenant Amy Wong Sau-ping said they would receive nothing from the URA if Mr Fok succeeded in moving them out.
'I have lived in this flat for almost 40 years. Since hearing about the plan of the Land Development Corporation to take over our building for redevelopment, I have been waiting over a decade hoping that we will have reasonable compensation to resettle elsewhere,' she said.
'I discussed my worries with the URA officials a few times right before the legislation was amended. But they just said that the owner would not be so unreasonable. And now it has really happened,' she said.