Residents of the only block left largely unscathed in Hong Kong’s Tai Po fire have brought large suitcases, trolleys and cardboard boxes as they return home for a second time to collect their belongings. Homeowners on Wednesday also said they felt they had played a passive role and still had many questions about the government’s…
Wang Fuk Court’s administrator has revealed that HK$180 million (US$22.9 million) has been paid to parties involved in the estate’s renovation project, with the remaining HK$127 million to be refunded to owners displaced by one of Hong Kong’s deadliest fires in decades. The details were disclosed during a Zoom meeting on Tuesday, one of two…
An online media outlet in Hong Kong has been cleared of tax evasion after a year-long review, but the process still cost HK$40,000 (US$5,106) in accounting fees, according to a journalists’ union. The Hong Kong Journalists Association said on Monday it also had been required to prepay HK$730,000 in taxes this year after being under…
Hong Kong authorities have pledged to intervene in landlord-tenant disputes preventing residents from retrieving belongings from the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court, as packing efforts enter their 10th day. Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk Wing-hing said on Wednesday that while the government expected agreement on limited entry quotas, authorities were prepared to make “alternative arrangements” to…
Homeowners of the only block undamaged in the deadly Wang Fuk Court inferno who decline the government’s buy-back offer will face significant challenges in the management and maintenance of their properties in the long run, Hong Kong authorities have warned. Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said on Wednesday that while the government respected homeowners’…
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. An independent committee investigating Hong Kong’s deadly Wang Fuk Court fire will scrutinise the roles of building and home affairs authorities on the 20th day of evidential hearings. Four witnesses from the Buildings Department…
Playing one last song on a piano that cannot be retrieved from a fire-ravaged home is among the wishes of residents returning to the scene of the deadly Tai Po blaze, with one man climbing stairs on a fractured leg to try and recover a water boiler linked to his childhood memories. Some of those…
About 600 families from Hong Kong’s fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court have requested a second visit to their flats, authorities have said, as residents of the most severely damaged tower return to salvage their belongings. While some survivors on Thursday morning recalled harrowing escapes from the worst-hit block and retrieved large items such as a television…
This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing. Hong Kong labour authorities’ handling of Wang Fuk Court residents’ complaints and inspections at the renovation site before the estate was engulfed in an inferno last November will be scrutinised by the independent committee…
For 66-year-old Ming Lee, the only way to get back to his flat in Hong Kong’s Wang Fuk Court is by walking up 25 flights of stairs, after the deadly inferno at the housing estate last November destroyed seven of its eight buildings, including their lift systems. Undaunted by the physical toll required, the retiree…