Tenant of Hong Kong’s only private low-rent housing estate challenges eviction tactics

85-year-old applicant takes housing corporation to court for failing to ensure resettlement of residents before redeveloping neighbourhood

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Tai Hang Sai Estate in Shek Kip Mei is Hong Kong’s only privately owned low-rent housing estate Photo: Xiaomei Chen

Published: 3:14pm, 17 Sep 2024Updated: 5:35pm, 17 Sep 2024

An elderly tenant at Hong Kong’s only privately owned low-rent housing estate has taken the landlord to court for allegedly going back on promises that it would ensure the resettlement of residents before redeveloping the neighbourhood.

Leung Ah-duen’s judicial review bid to the High Court followed the lower District Court’s previous decision rejecting the Hong Kong Settlers Housing Corporation’s request to fast-track legal proceedings against her and 12 other tenants who failed to move out of Tai Hang Sai Estate before a deadline in March.

The 85-year-old applicant, who has lived most of her life at the Shek Kip Mei housing compound, received pro bono legal help from Ho Tse Wai & Partners after the landlord came under increased media scrutiny over what a court official called “oppressive” conduct.

The High Court writ, seen by the Post on Tuesday, said the non-profit corporation, in exchange for the authorities endorsing its redevelopment plan to provide 2,000 flats to first-time homebuyers, had promised to offer temporary accommodation to affected residents and make room for the return of its existing 1,300 tenants without a need for means testing.

That position took a “sharp volte-face” in June last year, the writ said, with the corporation announcing that relocation would only be available for tenants passing an income and asset threshold.