With no electricity supply on the four floors yet, temporary lights were set up along the corridors.

Pillars were damaged in the first floor private Power Gymnasium and some equipment also had burn marks.

Piles of rubbish littered different floors with some blocking the back stairs. A mattress was left leaning on the seventh floor with four discarded cigarette butts.

A resident whose home is on the sixth floor returned to pack her belongings and said she planned to stay with a relative until conditions in the building improved.

“I will not stay here even if the electricity and water supply are restored,” the woman, who asked not to be named, said. “It is very smelly and inconvenient. The lift is also out of service.”

A police notice said electricity and a gas supply were only available in some flats.

A man, who also did not want to be identified, said he was hired to repair the closed-circuit television system and electricity after some residents reported burglaries.

“The casualties and damage are already severe. There are people who are taking advantage [of this situation] to commit theft. So lamentable,” the man added.

Police earlier said two circuit boards, valued at HK$200,000, were taken from the building’s lifts, and had listed the case as burglary.

9,578 buildings have not complied with Hong Kong fire safety orders

The Fire Services Department continued to carry out investigations at the scene on Sunday.

The building also had fire extinguishers which had not been inspected for some years.

One was last checked in January 2021 and the next inspection was scheduled for 2022.

Authorities earlier said New Lucky House, which also contained subdivided flats and guest houses, had not complied with a fire safety order for 16 years and 11 floors had damaged fire resistant doors. It also had not observed a building inspection order for six years.

The owners’ corporation chairwoman, identified only by the surname Yip, on Sunday said it had been working on the orders but the price quoted by the consultant was triple the government’s estimate.

The fire safety consultancy company earlier said it would take HK$1.2 million to upgrade the building but the firm later asked for HK$30 million as it also had to carry maintenance work at the same time.

“We think it is problematic. We are addressing the issue,” Yip told city media.

The government earlier said the corporation had hired a consultant to address fire safety notices issued in 2015 and 2020.

In response to criticism from some residents blaming guest houses for being reluctant to commit to maintenance, Yip, who was also an operator, said she did not take sides.

“There are many stakeholders in the owners’ corporation. Nobody has the final say. We need to balance different interests,” she said.

Yip added that the building had spent more than HK$50,000 last year to replace 67 fire extinguishers and fix fire resistant doors.

New Lucky House was one of 9,578 buildings in Hong Kong that had failed to comply with their fire safety notices by last December.

The Buildings Department said more than 60 per cent of the orders it and the fire service had issued had not been observed.

Under the law, anyone who, without reasonable excuse, failed to comply with an order would commit an offence and be liable to a HK$25,000 (US$3,190) fine and another HK$2,500 a day for as long as the situation remained unresolved.