Owner consent threshold to be cut in seven areas
The threshold for the proportion of owners who must agree to sell old private buildings is set to be reduced to as low as 65 per cent in seven neighbourhoods, as part of government efforts to speed up the pace of urban renewal.
The proposed legal amendment would be submitted to the Legislative Council for first reading in January and was expected to take effect in the first half of 2024, the Development Bureau said yesterday.
Under the current system, at least 80 per cent of owners must agree to sell a building aged 50 and above for redevelopment.
“We would like to encourage the private sector to participate in the redevelopment of old and dilapidated buildings,” a bureau spokeswoman said.
“During the public consultation, some wished the government could consider the redevelopment needs of certain old districts, and some deemed 60 per cent too low when compared to other countries like Japan and South Korea, which offer insufficient protection to the minority owners.”
Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu first proposed lowering the compulsory sale application thresholds for old private buildings as part of his maiden policy address last year.
The number of private buildings aged 50 and above has risen from 4,500 to 9,600 over the past decade, with only 1,600 undergoing redevelopment.
The Urban Renewal Authority, a profit-making statutory body, has played a hand in just a quarter of all such redevelopment projects in the past decade, but suffered a deficit of HK$3.5 billion in the last financial year amid a property downturn. The remainder of the projects have been driven by the private sector.
Last year, the government proposed lowering the compulsory sales application threshold to as low as 60 per cent for buildings aged 70 and above, but the suggestion was adjusted following a public consultation.
The latest amendment bid will reduce the threshold by 10 to 15 per cent for buildings that are aged 50 and above, with the amount varying depending on how old the site is.
The threshold will be selectively slashed even further for seven neighbourhoods with urgent redevelopment needs, including Sham Shui Po, Kowloon City, Mong Kok, Sheung Wan and Tsuen Wan.
The areas were selected based on the number of buildings over the age of 50, as well as the number of sites ordered by the government to undergo checks and repairs.
Under the proposal, buildings between 50 and 59 years old in the designated areas will only need 70 per cent of site owners to agree to sell. The threshold will remain unchanged for those in nonurgent zones.
Buildings between the ages of 60 and 69 in designated areas will have their thresholds lowered to 65 per cent, while the limit will be 70 per cent in other neighbourhoods. Sites aged 70 and above only need 65 per cent of owners to agree to sell, regardless of the location.
The amendment will also cover industrial buildings aged 30 and above situated in non-industrial areas. The threshold to sell will drop from 80 to 70 per cent.
The government yesterday also approved three more applications for the Land Sharing Pilot Scheme, which is expected to yield 8,100 flats in the Tai Po and Kwai Tsing districts, including about 6,100 public ones.