Following the devastating fire at Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po, which affected a staggering 1,984 units, the estate's incorporated owners' manager, Hop On Management Limited (Hop On), announced last week that it is confident in holding an owners' meeting within July.
A veteran district figure pointed out that simply finding a suitable venue and contacting the owners is already extremely difficult and cannot be handled independently at an ordinary community level, noting that Hop On's ability to overcome these challenges demonstrates its proactive and enterprising service attitude.
The district figure, who had previously attended Wang Fuk Court owners' meetings, said, "Wang Fuk Court has a massive number of households. Before the fire occurred, when there were disputes over engineering fees, the arrival of large numbers of owners and concerned individuals in person had repeatedly overwhelmed the venues.
They had to borrow school halls and playgrounds, conducting the owners' meetings by using megaphones to relay messages across different zones. With the meeting being held again this time, I believe the attendance will double. If we want to avoid being affected by rainy weather and choose to hold it indoors, I am afraid it will be difficult to find a suitable location within the district."
He continued: "Notifying the owners is a huge problem. In the past, it was enough to just post notices in the building lobbies and drop the notices into every household's mailbox. Now the residents are scattered; some are not in Hong Kong, some owners have passed away, and it is necessary to find their legal heirs. In addition, some owners act covertly, and some have even only recently shown up to register. " Even if the meeting is held on schedule, maintaining order and ensuring the effective completion of discussions at the owners' meeting will be more challenging than under normal circumstances.
After inquiring with Hop On regarding the owners' meeting, its spokesperson stated that they will continue to fully advance the preparatory work for the owners' meeting and report the latest progress to all owners in a timely manner.
Checking the records, Hop On received a request letter on April 29, in which some owners claimed to have enough joint signatures to demand the convening of a special owners' meeting that could accommodate no less than 1,000 people for a duration of at least six hours.
After Hop On assessed the difficulties of convening the owners' meeting, needing more time to make arrangements, it applied to the Lands Tribunal for an extension.
Although the Lands Tribunal rejected the application due to a lack of relevant jurisdiction, the judge twice affirmed Hop On's work, emphasizing that the situation at Wang Fuk Court is "unprecedented" and understanding that all parties have their difficulties.
Industry insiders believe that what Wang Fuk Court is facing is by no means as easy as convening an owners' meeting for a normal housing estate.
On one hand, residents are scattered and temporarily living in various places; there are also victims who have passed away, and their property ownership identities take time to confirm.
Hop On's effort to facilitate the convening of the owners' meeting in July while striving to legally protect the interests of all owners is understandable.
Hop On proactively stated last week that it will not appeal the Lands Tribunal's decision and will instead concentrate its resources to fully advance the preparatory work for the owners' meeting and outline its work progress.
This includes the verification of the identities of the petitioning owners, having already verified the identities of five percent of the co-signers.
In terms of contacting owners and following up on probate, it has successfully obtained the contact information of about 300 previously unreachable owners or their family members, perfecting the resident communication data, and continues to understand the probate progress for those who passed away in the fire.
Regarding the venue, it is reported that Hop On had already tried to contact at least eight venues in early June, all of which could not accommodate the expected number of people.
Besides continuously searching, it is also actively exploring different options to ensure the meeting can be held smoothly. Additionally, in following up on the various arrangement details for the meeting, they are arranging to seek legal advice to ensure the procedures comply with regulations.
Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Alice Mak re-emphasized that Hop On has deployed a large amount of extra manpower without compensation to handle the work, including receiving nearly 900,000 documents from the previous management company and handling the refund arrangements of the major maintenance fund for the owners, with many owners having already received their refunds.
As for the handling of property rights of the units post-disaster, Mak stated that the function of the owners' meeting is based on the Building Management Ordinance and the deed of mutual covenant, and the buying and selling situations of any owner's individual unit should not be discussed or handled at the owners' meeting.
The latest data shows that over 1,600 households have already signed and returned the "Acceptance of Acquisition Offer Letter," accepting the government's acquisition at a price 30 percent higher than the unit's market price before the fire.
Among them, Blocks A to G account for over 1,400 households (about 82 percent), and Wang Chi House has over 200 households that have returned the letters, accounting for about 83 percent.
