The proposed compulsory sale of a half-century-old noodle factory in Sham Shui Po has turned out to be a huge misunderstanding. Officials are now saying that the owners do not need to surrender their property because the building is only 36 years old; the law only covers buildings that are 50 years old, or older.
The biggest joke is that everyone involved in the case - senior government officials, lawmakers, politicians, the media, the developer and the property owner - seems to have misinterpreted the law. Secretary for Development Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is primarily responsible for this blunder, while those who have failed to monitor the administration - such as lawmakers, the media and pressure groups - should also shoulder a portion of the blame.
The new amendments to the Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance, passed in April, allow developers to force the sale of remaining units in a building once they have acquired 80 per cent ownership of it. The previous threshold was 90 per cent.
Before getting the full picture of how the new rules would apply, many critics accused the government of colluding with developers. Legislator Regina Ip Lau Suk-yee even ran a full-page newspaper advertisement to denounce the new law. Her pro-people approach has made her the city's most popular lawmaker.
The new legislative amendments state that a developer can seek the forced sale of the remaining units in a building if it has acquired 80 per cent of the building's ownership. But it only applies to three types of buildings: any buildings older than 50 years, industrial blocks outside industrial zones that are older than 30 years, and those in which each unit represents at least 10 per cent of the building's ownership.
As it turns out, the building in question is not old enough, and each individual upstairs unit represents less than 10 per cent ownership of the building.