Link REIT caught in $163m parking tangle

Link REIT, which manages public housing facilities, is alleged to have rented 14,500 parking spaces to non-residents and so depriving the Housing Authority of HK$163 million in revenue.

According to FactWire news agency, the deception involved 192 of Link REIT's 217 parking lots - spaces that should be rented hourly to public housing residents and their guests.

But Link, a real estate investment trust that among other things manages 217 parking lots involving 69,000 parking spaces at estates, is said to have instead provided spaces to outsiders without a "temporary waiver" from the Housing Authority.

It had even started advertising the spaces - a possible breach of land lease terms that could see it losing the business.

Since 2008, "parking perks" were rolled out to attract drivers to purchase 12-hour and 24-hour parking packages in 123 and 89 parking lots respectively, FactWire said.

Link also introduced a three-day "parking privilege" at the Yat Tung car park in Tung Chung. A poster featured three suitcases and a road sign for the airport, which suggested its 1,753 parking spaces were available to air travelers.

With 14,500 hourly parking spaces involved, this amounted to a potential HK$163 million in lost revenue for the Housing Authority.

Link had submitted 129 "temporary waiver" applications between 2010 and May this year, involving 122 estates. Of them, 33 applications were withdrawn while only Sha Kok Estate car park in Sha Tin was exempted from the remaining 96 applications.

An undercover reporter even parked at Link-operated facilities on multiple occasions. "Anyone can park inside as long as there are vacant spaces," he was told by staff.

The agency also ran a spot check that found 36 of 116 vehicles parked at Tin Shing Court in Tin Shui Wai from 10pm on September 12 to 1am next day were registered at addresses outside the estate.

Duncan Ho Dik-hong, a member of the Progressive Lawyers Group, said there was "strong evidence" suggesting Link had violated land lease conditions. "The guards manage the car parks on behalf of the company," Ho said. "Obviously, the lessee did not fulfill its responsibility if the guards said everyone could park there."

Land lease conditions include the use of any public housing car park being restricted to residents and guests.

Ho said it appeared the Lands Department "never enforced" certain conditions, and other government officials had failed to issue clear guidelines on Link monitoring short- term users of car parks.

"If the wording of the land leases is vague Link will of course try to take advantage of the gray area," Ho said.

Responding to the claims by Factwire, a Link spokesman said only "certain specified persons" who "meet the eligibility requirements" should be allowed to park.

And the Housing Authority declared: "Link must comply with relevant regulations and land lease conditions."

Meanwhile, they Lands Department told The Standard last night that officers would investigate. And it would reserve the right to launch further action for failure to comply, including "re-entering the lots" under prescribed procedures.

Democratic Party lawmaker Andrew Wan Siu-kin last night expressed shock at Link's apparent behavior, saying he would ensure the Housing Authority took more "proactive actions" against Link.

"It was a blatant deprivation of rights of the Housing Authority and public housing tenants," Wan said, and Link "simply stepped over the line to profit themselves."

Wan will also press for a full investigation when the Legislative Council resumes next week.

This is not the first time Link has been accused of violating land leases.

In 2010 it was found to have let 700 parking spaces to non-residents on a monthly basis between 2005 to 2009.

The Lands Department subsequently demanded that Link pay HK$30,295,690 in outstanding waiver fees.