Hong Kong’s crumbling old flat tenants left in the lurch as developers and authorities go slow during property downturn
- Many agree the current compensation rate, equal to the price of a comparable seven-year-old flat, needs changing
- As the number of old private buildings rises, some suggest incentives to draw private sector into renewal
Some of the old and decaying blocks in Hong Kong’s To Kwa Wan district are so run-down that residents find it tough to find tradesmen to do repairs.
Retired security guard Luk Kui-to, 77, said he had to take an umbrella with him when he went to the toilet because it leaked so much when it rained.
He avoided sleeping in one of the rooms in the 460 sq ft flat, which is more than 60 years old, as concrete had fallen from the ceiling and there was a metre-long crack in a wall.
Luk said he had tried to get the place repaired, but nobody wanted to take on the job.
“One repairman told me he dared not do it as the building was old and rotten, and he would be in trouble if there was an accident,” he said.
His block is in an area dubbed “13 Streets”, made up of 2,400 flats in rundown old buildings along 13 parallel streets, which was earmarked for redevelopment a decade ago.
“There are no signs of redevelopment, but I need a place to stay,” said Luk, who lives with his 57-year-old wife, a cleaner. “I can only take it day by day.”