A government official has said authorities will “look into” the situation after a resident at the fire-hit Wang Fuk Court found rubbish and other items that did not belong to his flat when he retrieved his belongings.

The resident of Wang Cheong House, the first block hit by the blaze, told reporters on Tuesday that he found items such as cigarette butts, face masks, and drink packets that he believed were left behind by construction workers who had entered his unit.

He also found other items that did not belong to his flat, which he believed were his neighbours’, local media reported.

“When our neighbours come up looking for their things, will they know that their belongings have been placed in my flat?” said the resident.

Deputy Chief Secretary Warner Cheuk said at a press conference on Tuesday: “Regarding the situation where it appears people had discarded items in the flats, I will have to look into that.”

Tuesday marked the ninth day of Wang Fuk Court residents returning to their units to retrieve their belongings.

On that day, residents of Wang Cheong House, which sustained the most fire damage, and Wang Tao House were allowed to return to their homes in batches.

The blaze broke out in November last year and engulfed seven of the Tai Po housing estate’s eight blocks, killing 168 people and displacing thousands.

‘Easy to say’

On Tuesday, resident Ma Chung-kui, who plays the zheng, salvaged his collection of the traditional Chinese musical instrument from his flat at Wang Tao House.

He said he hoped to return to his flat again, as the three-hour time slot was only enough for him to retrieve a third of the instruments.

“How could I let go? That’s crazy. It’s easy to say, but not to do,” he said, referring to Cheuk’s earlier remarks advising residents to be mentally prepared to “let go” of some of their belongings and prioritise things with sentimental value.

Another family, who returned to Wang Cheong House, laid down flowers to mourn their parents, who died in the fire.

At the same Tuesday press conference, housing chief Winnie Ho also addressed concerns about why residents were not allowed to take the lift to their flats. She said that the water used to combat the blaze might have rusted the metal components of the lifts.

“We take residents’ safety very seriously. We understand that residents wish to take the lifts to make it easier for them to get in and out, but safety must be our top priority,” Ho said.

Hong Kong authorities have said they will extend their buyout plan to include flats in the only Wang Fuk Court block unaffected by the deadly fire if three-quarters of the owners agree to sell their properties.

Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong announced the plan at a press conference on Tuesday, around two months after the government unveiled the initial buyout plan covering the housing estate’s seven fire-hit buildings but not Wang Chi House.

The buyout price for Wang Chi House will be consistent with the seven other blocks, at HK$8,000 or HK$10,500 per square foot, depending on whether the premiums for the homes have been paid.

Wong also said a preliminary survey suggested that 77 per cent of Wang Chi House residents were willing to sell their homes to the government for cash or move into another government-subsidised estate under a flat-exchange exercise.

“We do think that the proposal is a good one for them… but it doesn’t mean we would like to force them to accept the proposal. At the end of the day, it is their decision,” he said.

“But we do think that what we have on the table is very reasonable and should actually be quite attractive.”

He said that owners faced a slew of difficulties and uncertainties, including the wait before they could move back into the Tai Po housing estate, as well as matters involving the land agreement and deed, high maintenance costs, and complex insurance matters.

Some owners had concerns about the emotional toll of moving back into the estate and about drops in property value, he added.

The total cost of buying out 248 units at Wang Chi House will be about HK$1 billion, he said.

Threshold

Wong said that a government liaison team had reached out to 99 per cent of Wang Chi House flat owners, 77 per cent of whom were willing to sell their flats to the government.

“We believe the 75 per cent threshold adequately reflects the requirement of a high degree of consensus,” Wong said.

Speaking at the same press conference, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho said 14 per cent of Wang Chi House flat owners were still considering the offer, while the remaining 9 per cent were not willing to sell their properties.

Those who agree to the buyout will have to sign and submit a letter of acceptance to the government. Those who do so before June 30 will be given special priority to choose another flat offered by the government, while the deadline for expressing interest has been set for August 31.

While the government respects private property rights, it would also offer the buyout option if the threshold is reached, the deputy minister said.

If the final number of purchasing agreements does not meet the threshold, the government “has the right” to roll back the buyout scheme.

Wong said in February that the government would look into whether special legislation would be needed to handle the cases of owners who refuse to sell their property rights.

However, on Tuesday, he said the authorities had yet to come up with a concrete legislative plan.

He vowed that the government would proceed by adhering to the principle of respecting private property rights under Hong Kong’s mini-constitution, the Basic Law, and offer compensation for buyouts.

The Buildings Department (BD) did not conduct flammability tests on the scaffold nets covering Wang Fuk Court before the housing estate was struck by a deadly fire last year, an official has told a public inquiry into the blaze.

The BD’s assistant director for mandatory building inspection, Karen Cheung, testified on Monday that her department “mainly” relied on fire retardancy certificates submitted by contractors and did not conduct on-site or laboratory tests, local media reported.

“In terms of scaffolding nets, we really had not conducted tests before,” Cheung said.

In response to questions from Victor Dawes, lead counsel for the inquiry, she said that the department would check where the certificates originated and whether they were recognised in Hong Kong.

Substandard scaffolding nets have been identified as one of the key factors contributing to the rapid spread of the fire in November. In the wake of the blaze, the authorities imposed lab testing requirements before the nets can be used on worksites.

Wang Fuk Court was undergoing major renovation when the fire broke out, killing 168 people and displacing thousands.

The independent committee tasked with investigating the blaze earlier heard that residents lodged complaints about possible fire hazards to authorities before the tragedy struck.

The complaints involved wooden boards installed to replace fireproof windows at emergency staircases so workers could access bamboo scaffolding, foam boards used to shield windows from falling debris, non-flame-retardant scaffold nets, and workers smoking.

Cheung also confirmed that both the registered inspector and the contractor were responsible for submitting certificates and laboratory reports to ensure the nets meet flame-retardancy standards.

Purviews

The Building (Construction) Regulation empowers the BD to take action against works that cover windows with opaque materials, including foam boards, for long periods, the official also said, but government housing complexes like Wang Fuk Court are outside its purview.

As a government-subsidised housing complex, Wang Fuk Court fell under the remit of the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU), Cheung told the hearing.

However, senior ICU surveyor Andy Ku said in a written submission presented at a hearing last week that the unit had no power to regulate “temporary construction materials.”

At the same hearing last week, Michael Yung, assistant director of fire safety at the Fire Services Department, said that fire hazards such as substandard scaffold netting, flammable foam boards, and workers smoking on site fell outside the FSD’s purview.

Under a secondment mechanism to ensure consistency, the BD can send senior staff to the ICU to assist with inspections, according to a document shown at Monday’s hearing.

But Cheung told Dawes that the BD did not conduct any inspections on Prestige Construction & Engineering Company, the maintenance contractor at Wang Fuk Court, and Will Power Architects, the consultancy firm overseeing the works at the estate.

Wang Fuk Court residents continued to return to their fire-scorched housing estate to collect personal belongings over the weekend.

One family said they planned to take “one last photo” inside their flat, while a couple brought flowers to mourn a neighbour who died in the blaze.

Residents of Wang Cheong House, the tower first hit by the blaze in November, as well as those of Wang Yan House and Wang Tao House – both of which sustained relatively little damage in the inferno – were allowed to return to their homes in batches on Saturday and Sunday.

It was five months ago that the blaze broke out and engulfed seven of the Tai Po housing estate’s eight blocks, killing 168 people and displacing thousands.

The government has offered to buy back the flats in the seven fire-damaged blocks and plans to tear them down and build a park or other community facilities on the site.

Returning with her sister and elderly parents, a Wang Tao House resident surnamed Poon said her family would take a group portrait in their apartment as a keepsake, local media reported.

“We had many family gatherings here. Each time a family member celebrated their birthday, we would return home for dinner… A lot of group photos were taken in this apartment. Many things happened here,” she told reporters in Cantonese.

“So, as this could be our last chance to return, we have decided to take one more family portrait inside the flat.”

She said the three-hour limit for collecting belongings was not enough. “You need more than three hours to pack if you pack for a holiday. Let alone if we retrieve belongings from a lifetime.”

‘To say goodbye’

While some residents successfully found documents and valuables from their flats, others said there might not be much to salvage.

“Everything’s been burned, there’s not much to collect,” an elderly Wang Cheong House resident surnamed Tang, who moved there when Wang Fuk Court opened in 1983, told reporters in Cantonese.

She climbed the building with her daughter despite having to walk with a cane. The pair retrieved only some jewellery, pottery, and coins.

Tang also paid tribute to several neighbours on the same floor who could not escape the fire. “The neighbours were really kind. I was sad that I couldn’t tell them to leave in time,” she said.

A resident surnamed Ma and his wife brought flowers to mourn a neighbour who died in the fire after learning of the death in a Facebook group for residents.

“Now that we can return… we want to pay tribute to her, to say goodbye,” the husband said.

Wang Fuk Court residents will continue to visit their homes until May 4, with some expressing a desire to return for a second time.

A survivor of the deadly Tai Po fire has urged the government to make better arrangements for residents to retrieve personal belongings and allow a longer time to visit their flats.

Jason Kong, a resident at the fire-ravaged Wang Fuk Court and former member of the estate owners’ corporation, told local media on Thursday that his family did not have enough time to search for, collect and pack all their personal belongings within the designated three hours.

He talked with journalists after he returned to his flat at Wang Yan House with his wife and son on Thursday morning.

Kong and his family were among the residents of Wang Yan House, alongside those from Wang Cheong House, the worst-hit Wang Fuk Court block, who were allowed to enter their units on Thursday.

As it was dark inside, the family used torches as they searched for items, which made it more difficult to collect their belongings, he said.

Kong said the government should provide portable LED lights for residents. He also questioned why authorities did not repair some lifts of the residential buildings to make it easier for elderly residents.

Ming Pao reported that many elderly homeowners could not make it due to the difficulty of climbing stairs.

After waiting for nearly five months, Wang Fuk Court residents were allowed to return to their fire-scorched homes to retrieve personal belongings in batches starting on Monday until May 4.

A total of 168 people were killed in the fire that engulfed seven of Wang Fuk Court’s residential towers in November. Wang Cheong House saw the highest casualties, with 81 deaths.

Another Wang Fuk Court resident, surnamed Lee, told InMedia on Monday that he felt like he was “begging” the government to return to his home.

“I would really love to know, after I return to my flat, how you could kick me out? Which Hong Kong laws could you use? This is my home! Don’t I have the right to stay there to pack my things?” he said in Cantonese.

The government said in February that residents would only be able to enter their homes once for a maximum of three hours, prompting widespread criticism.

Warner Cheuk, deputy chief secretary for administration, announced later that residents would be allowed to return to their homes more than once and to make multiple trips within the three-hour slot.

600 households apply for second visits

Cheuk told local media on Thursday that the government had received requests from around 600 households applying for a second visit to their Wang Fuk Court flats.

He said authorities would make arrangements for the second visits, but he did not disclose a timeline.

Because Wang Cheong House and Wang Tai House sustained severe damage, every household entering or leaving either building will be accompanied by a police officer, Cheuk said.

Each household visiting flats with fatalities will be accompanied throughout the entire process by a clinical psychologist from the Social Welfare Department and a social worker, he added.

Fire hazards like substandard scaffold netting, flammable foam boards and workers smoking on site fell outside the purview of the Fire Services Department (FSD), a senior official has told a public inquiry into the deadly Tai Po blaze.

Michael Yung, assistant director of fire safety at the FSD, testified on Wednesday that his department is responsible only for “active” fire safety measures, such as alarm systems, local media reported.

Meanwhile, “passive” protections like fire doors and windows are managed by the Buildings Department, he added.

Yung was among the highest-ranking FSD officials to testify before the independent committee investigating the massive Wang Fuk Court blaze in November, which killed 168 people. The housing estate in Tai Po was undergoing major renovation when the fire hit.

The committee previously heard residents lodged numerous complaints of possible fire hazards to multiple government departments, including the FSD, before the fire broke out.

The complaints included wooden boards installed in emergency staircases to replace fireproof windows, allowing workers access to scaffolding; foam boards used to shield windows from falling debris; non-retardant scaffold nets; and workers smoking.

Yung said that wooden boards, foam boards, and scaffold nets were under the remit of the Buildings Department and its Independent Checking Unit (ICU), while the issue of workers smoking should have been handled by the Labour Department.

“It appears that none of the fire hazards concerning residents was your department’s responsibility?” Victor Dawes, the lead lawyer for the committee, asked in Cantonese, to which Yung agreed.

‘No expertise’ in construction

Citing an initial investigation, Dawes said last month that the blaze was “most likely” caused by smoking, while flammable construction materials may have contributed to the rapid spread of fire and smoke.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Dawes drew attention to the city’s Fire Services Ordinance, which stipulates that the FSD should “give advice on fire protection measures and fire hazards as occasion requires.”

Yung agreed that the FSD should advise residents on passive fire safety measures, but maintained that his department was not the most suitable government agency to handle complaints regarding flammable construction materials.

“We do not have the expertise. If we hastily order the removal of such materials, it may obstruct the construction work,” he said.

‘Oversight vacuum’

Email correspondence between residents and the FSD showed that officers urged residents to contact the ICU regarding the issue of foam boards.

Judge David Lok, the chair of the independent committee, said the blaze exposed a “grey zone” in government oversight of building renovations, to which Yung agreed.

Yung admitted that the FSD could have improved its handling of complaints. Following the blaze, the FSD will refer residents’ enquiries or complaints to the responsible departments if they consent, he said.

The official also said that the FSD and the Buildings Department had begun discussions on how to improve interdepartmental referrals.

However, he disagreed with Dawes’ characterisation of an “oversight vacuum” regarding foam boards, after the lawyer cited the written submission by senior ICU surveyor Andy Ku, who said the unit had no power to regulate “temporary construction materials.”

Yung said the matter should be under the ICU’s purview, but declined to comment further.

He said the jurisdictions of different government departments are based on laws and “long-term cooperation, discussion, and perceptions” among the public bodies.

Committee member Chan Kin-por asked whether a mechanism exists for when the ICU could not handle a complaint forwarded by the FSD.

In response, Yung said the FSD’s deputy director would lead an interdepartmental effort to handle such a situation in the future.

Dengue fever poses a “moderate” risk to Hong Kong, a health official has said after the city recorded its first local case of the infection this year.

Albert Au, head of the Centre for Health Protection (CHP), said in an RTHK radio programme on Wednesday that rising temperatures and the imminent rainy season made environments more favourable for mosquito breeding.

“The infection rate for mosquito-borne diseases in Southeast Asia and neighbouring regions remains high,” Au said in Cantonese. “So we think the risk of an outbreak cannot be neglected.”

Hong Kong is investigating a local case of dengue fever after a 21-year-old man, who had not travelled outside the city lately, tested positive for the dengue virus.

According to a government statement on Tuesday, the man developed symptoms including fever and a rash last week, and is currently in stable condition in hospital.

He told authorities he had recently been bitten by mosquitoes near a construction site in Penny’s Bay on Lantau, where he works.

Environmental inspections showed there were “multiple sites conducive to mosquito breeding” there, including drainage channels with weeds and leaves, as well as stagnant water, the statement read.

The man lives at Tai Wo Estate in Tai Po. The CHP has set up a consultation booth at the estate to provide health assessments and dengue fever antibody tests for people with symptoms.

12 imported cases this year

So far, 12 other cases of dengue fever have been recorded this year, all of them imported.

Dengue fever, a viral infection transmitted to humans through mosquito bites, is most commonly recorded in warmer climates, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Most people experience mild or no symptoms, although severe cases – often caused by multiple infections – can lead to death.

Au said there might have been undiagnosed imported cases of dengue fever in the community that transmitted the virus locally. However, authorities have not found epidemiological links between the man’s case and other previously recorded imported cases.

In 2025, the city recorded 59 cases of dengue fever, all imported. In 2024, there were 161 cases, five of which were local.

According to the government statement, the 21-year-old’s household contacts and workers at the construction site are so far asymptomatic.

Members of the public are advised to inspect their homes and prevent water accumulation to remove potential mosquito breeding grounds.

Enforcement agencies “failed in their duties” despite receiving complaints about the renovation project at Wang Fuk Court, a former member of the estate’s owners’ board has told a hearing into the deadly fire.

Testifying on Monday, Jason Kong said the renovation project at Wang Fuk Court had numerous warning signs, in particular, flammable items used as protective material surrounding the buildings.

“There were so many warning signs, and the enforcement agencies failed in their duties,” he said in Cantonese.

The housing estate was undergoing a large-scale renovation project when the fire broke out in November and killed 168 people. The renovation project was carried out by Prestige Construction & Engineering, while Will Power Architects was the project’s consultant.

Kong said he made reports to the government. “I urged the enforcement agencies to conduct patrols proactively and follow up on the matter,” he said.

“If they… had done this earlier, the whole blaze could have been averted… I did what I could have possibly.”

Initial investigation showed that the use of non-retardant protective nets and flammable foam boards exacerbated the spread of the fire, which began at Wang Cheong House and swiftly engulfed six other residential towers.

Kong said on Monday that he had raised safety concerns about the protective nets to the Housing Bureau’s Independent Checking Unit (ICU). A woman who worked at the ICU, Amanda Lau, responded to him but did not say if the department checked whether the nets were fire-retardant.

Kong urged Lau, as well as directors of Prestige and Will Power, to testify at the hearings.

He also called for pro-establishment district councillor Peggy Wong to testify. Between 2021 and 2024, Wong was a consultant for the Wang Fuk Court owners’ board, which approved the controversial renovation project.

An independent committee chaired by a judge has been holding hearings to probe the Tai Po fire since March 19. Monday marked the 15th hearing.

Witnesses who testified so far have included Wang Fuk Court residents, staff from the property management company ISS EastPoint, firefighters and the chairperson of the owners’ board at the time of the fire.

However, the committee revealed earlier that directors of Prestige and Will Power, and a manager of ISS Eastpoint, had refused to testify.

Consulting firm defended usage of foam boards

Kong said on Monday that he became a member of the Wang Fuk Court owners’ board in May 2024, when it was chaired by Tang Kwok-kuen.

When Kong was elected as a member, the board signed a contract with Prestige after homeowners and authorised representatives voted to hire the company as a contractor for the renovation project.

The project began in July 2024. Two months later, the owners’ board was ousted and replaced by a new group of homeowners after residents expressed dissatisfaction over the former board’s renovation plans.

Kong was re-elected as a member of the owners’ board, chaired by Tony Tsui. Tsui testified on Friday, saying the owners’ corporation tried to prevent the use of flammable materials in the renovation project, but was unsuccessful.

Kong said during the hearing that many residents were concerned about using foam boards to cover their windows. However, a director at Will Power personally went to the estate and defended the use of the boards.

The owners’ board later tried to push Prestige to purchase fire-retardant boards to replace the foam boards, Kong said, but to no avail.

Kong said that both the old and new owners’ boards had filed complaints about workers smoking. He had proposed imposing fines on the contractor, such as introducing a tiered penalty system to address the issue.

However, Prestige merely responded that they would enhance staff training, and the problem ultimately showed no significant improvement, Kong said.

Residents of the fire-hit Wang Fuk Court housing estate in Tai Po have begun returning home to collect personal belongings for the first time since the deadly tragedy in November.

Around 270 people returned to their flats in Wang Sun House, one of the seven blocks engulfed by the blaze, on Monday. Residents of each flat were given three hours under strict government supervision.

They were the first batch of around 6,000 residents that the government said had registered to return to their homes.

Residents were given helmets and protective gloves before entering Wang Sun House. With no electricity running, they had to climb the stairs.

Some of the residents already knew that their homes were severely burned and were left in ruins after they received photos of the flats from the government.

“I have seen photos of my flat burned to ashes, so I have no hope,” a resident who gave only his surname, Leung, told HKFP in Cantonese. “I only wanted to collect things of commemorative value, such as wedding rings.”

Leung was lucky to retrieve the rings. He provided HKFP with photos of his flat, showing the floor covered in debris and some items burned beyond recognition. The metal gate of his flat was also dismantled.

Others were less fortunate. Another resident, who declined to give his name due to privacy concerns, said his home was destroyed.

“There is nothing to go back to. We took a look, paid respect, and left,” he told reporters after visiting his flat.

A female resident surnamed Tai told reporters: “My home has nothing left, I only want to go up there and say goodbye.

“I am not in the mood to speak. I can only put on a wry smile,” she added.

‘Someone following’

Some, like 50-year-old Steven Chong, were able to retrieve valuable items as their homes escaped the flames. Chong found the computer storing his family photos and a religious painting he bought in Tibet, which he had brought with him when he moved house twice.

“Perhaps [the painting] has protected my home from the blaze,” he told reporters.

He used the time at the flat to remember his cat, who died in the fire. “I went to the spot where he liked to sleep and called him twice, telling him to reincarnate,” he said.

Chong said the three-hour time slot was “enough” for him to collect belongings, but said it may not be so for residents whose homes were damaged in the blaze.

The government said that all residents would be accompanied by police or Civil Aid Service personnel, citing the need to protect property in the building.

“At every step, there’s someone following,” a woman surnamed Chow said in Cantonese, calling the government’s arrangement “OK.”

Chow, a relative of a Wang Sun House resident, said it was fortunate that they found an album containing old family photos, but they may apply for a second trip as they could not move their safe this time.

Discontent

But some residents expressed discontent over the government’s arrangement. A man surnamed Lee is scheduled to return to his flat at Wang Yan House on Thursday.

He went to Wang Fuk Court on Monday, hoping to become familiar with the process, but officers denied him entry to a nearby community hall where residents checked in before going up the building.

“I am going back to my home. But it was like I had to beg for it. How can this be right?” he told reporters in Cantonese.

“It is my place. Don’t I have the right to stay there and pack my belongings?” he said, criticising the three-hour limit.

“I lived there for over three decades… There’s no way that I don’t go back, I can’t let it go,” he added.

Survivors of the deadly Tai Po fire will be allowed to go in and out of their homes multiple times within their designated three-hour slot, a top government official has said, adding that journalists will not be permitted to tag along.

Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration Warner Cheuk made the comments on Sunday, a day before fire victims are set to go back to Wang Fuk Court to collect their belongings.

Earlier, authorities had said that residents would only be able to enter their homes once, prompting criticism that the arrangement lacked flexibility.

On Monday, residents of Wang Sun House, one of the estate’s seven fire-ravaged block, will go back to retrieve their belongings for the first time since the November fire. Residents of the other buildings will do so in later batches until May 4.

In an interview with RTHK on Sunday, Cheuk said that “generally speaking,” residents will be allowed to enter their homes more than once to make it more convenient for them to take their belongings.

He said the decision was made after inter-departmental discussions following residents’ feedback.

Cheuk said all residents will be “accompanied” by police or Civil Aid Service officers while returning to their homes, citing a need to protect their neighbours’ property.

Residents should not enter others’ units nor take photos of other apartments, Cheuk added.

The official said around 6,000 people had registered with the government to make trips to their homes. A total of 47 households chose not to return after seeing pictures of their charred apartments taken by authorities.

The coming weeks will be the first time that fire victims will return to their homes since the blaze broke out in late November. The fire, the deadliest in Hong Kong since 1948, claimed 168 lives and displaced thousands of residents.

It was not until late March that authorities announced arrangements for them to return. They said each household would be given a maximum of three hours to gather their items, with a maximum of four people.

Some residents said three hours was too little time for them to pack and bid farewell to their homes. Cheuk then defended the time limit on a Commercial Radio programme.

“With four people and three hours allowed, they would have 12 hours in total to pack,” Cheuk said in Cantonese. The remark draw widespread criticism online.

Days after, Cheuk said authorities would be flexible and allow residents to book more than one three-hour time slot to return to their homes.

Journalists barred

Cheuk said on Sunday that authorities will not allow journalists to tag along with residents to their fire-ravaged homes.

He said some residents reported to the government that journalists wanted to go with them to their flats.

“[The residents] said going up to their homes will be a difficult and sad moment… therefore, they hope not to be disturbed and to enjoy privacy when they pack things,” Cheuk said.

“We will not allow [reporters] to go upstairs,” he added.

The Wang Fuk Court owners’ corporation tried to pressure the renovation contractor not to use flammable boards and substandard construction nets before the fire hit, an independent inquiry has heard.

Tony Tsui, who served as chair of the management committee of the Wang Fuk Court owners’ corporation when the tragedy struck, testified on Friday at a hearing organised by an independent committee investigating the fatal fire at the Tai Po housing estate.

Tsui said that he and other members of the Wang Fuk Court owners’ committee had told the main contractor, Prestige Construction & Engineering, not to use foam boards – a flammable material – and not to allow construction workers to smoke on the renovation site.

However, he failed to push for a change, he said. Tsui broke down in tears at the end of his testimony, saying it was hard and stressful to serve on the owners’ board and to oversee such a large-scale renovation project.

“How could residents like us lead a HK$330 million renovation project?” Tsui said in Cantonese, “I hope after the hearings, large renovations [of residential buildings] could be assisted more by the government in terms of regulations and supervision.”

Tsui, who works for the MTR Corporation, was chair of the owner’s board from September 2024 until it was dissolved by a court in January 2026 and replaced by a firm appointed by the government.

Wang Fuk Court, home to 1,984 families, was under renovation when the fire broke out on November 26, killing 168 people and displacing thousands.

All eight of the estate’s buildings had been covered with bamboo scaffolding and construction nets when the renovation work started in July 2024. Construction workers also used foam boards to cover the windows to protect them from debris as they removed the old tiles. 

Initial investigation showed that the use of non-retardant nets and flammable foam boards exacerbated the spread of the fire, which began at Wang Cheong House and engulfed six other residential towers.

Tsui said he raised concerns about the foam boards to Prestige in September 2024 after residents filed complaints to the owners’ committee.

According to a WhatsApp conversation record shown at the hearing, a Prestige representative told the committee that the foam boards would not ignite upon contact with a cigarette butt, and there was no law in Hong Kong banning the use of foam boards in construction.

Tsui said the owners’ committee then asked Prestige to consult the Fire Services Department (FSD). Prestige then replied that, according to the FSD, there was no regulation banning the use of foam boards.

“In terms of the owner’s corporation, we’ve tried our best [to oppose the use of foam boards]. However, there was no law in Hong Kong to [support] our advocacy, and we felt helpless,” Tsui said.

Senior counsel Victor Dawes, the lead lawyer of the independent committee, said at the hearing that some residents felt Tsui did not work hard to oversee the construction project and that it was hard to contact him before the fire.

In response, Tsui said the accusation was unfair and that he shared his personal phone number with all residents after he took up the position as the chairperson. He added that he also held weekly meetings to update residents on the progress of the renovation project, which everyone could join.

Workers’ smoking on site

Tsui said that before the deadly blaze, the owners’ board kept receiving residents’ complaints about construction workers smoking on the scaffolding.

The inquiry previously heard that the deadly fire was “most likely” caused by smoking.

The former chair said the board urged Prestige multiple times to ban workers from smoking, even trying to hold payments to pressure the contractor to tackle the issue.

A WhatsApp conversation record shown at the hearing confirmed this. However, a Prestige representative kept asking the board to pay first.

Tsui also said he noticed that many scaffolding nets were torn after a major typhoon hit Hong Kong in September and that construction workers replaced them with nets in a lighter green colour.

Tsui said the board was concerned about the quality and safety of the scaffolding nets and asked Prestige if it could replace them with higher‑quality, fire‑retardant nets. However, the contractor refused, he said.

A group of survivors of the deadly Wang Fuk Court fire have petitioned Hong Kong’s top officials twice in a week, urging the government to rebuild the fire-ravaged residential estate on site and to respect their private property rights.

According to copies of the petitions received by HKFP on Thursday, the petitioners sent the letters to a group of top officials on Wednesday this week and last week, asking them to reconsider the in-situ redevelopment of Wang Fuk Court.

The letters were sent to Chief Executive John Lee, Deputy Chief Secretary for Administration Warner Cheuk, Deputy Chief Secretary for Finance Michael Wong, Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho, and Secretary for Home and Youth Affairs Minister Alice Mak.

According to the petitions, Wang Fuk Court homeowners were not given transparent information and were not properly consulted about resettlement plans.

The petitioners urged the government to coordinate with the Hop On Management Company, appointed by authorities to take over the Wang Fuk Court owners’ board, to call a general meeting of homeowners to vote on on-site redevelopment.

“To us, Wang Fuk Court is more than just a private property protected by the sanctity of the law; it is a home we have spent half our lives building,” the letters said.

“We are grateful to the government for its earlier empathy in allowing residents to briefly return to Wang Fuk Court to retrieve precious belongings,” it continued.

“However, regarding the long-term planning that dictates the future of our homes and our resettlement, we have profound doubts and anxieties about the underlying logic and legal basis of certain official decisions.”

The petitions were organised by two Wang Fuk Court homeowners – known by their surnames: Cheung and Ho.

In January, they went to China’s Liaison Office and the Legislative Council (LegCo) to deliver the petition, which was signed by more than 1,100 homeowners and asked for on-site redevelopment.

The organisers told HKFP on Thursday that, so far, they had not received any response from the government.

HKFP has sent an enquiry to the government for comment.

Property rights of the minority

The government announced on February 21 a buyout offer for homeowners, rejecting the option to rebuild the apartment block.

Flat owners can either sell their property titles to the government or move into another government-subsidised estate under a flat-exchange scheme.

Wong, the deputy chief secretary for finance, said at a press conference that according to a consultation conducted by the government, 83 per cent of Wang Fuk Court homeowners preferred to prioritise speedy resettlement.

He also said that on-site redevelopment would take more than 10 years, and therefore would not be a good option.

However, some homeowners criticised the plan, saying it ignored their wishes.

In the letters sent this month, the petitioners said the government should not conclude that on-site redevelopment would take 10 years before conducting a formal survey.

They also pointed out that, with more than 1,100 homeowners from nearly 400 households signing the January petition, around 17 per cent of Wang Fuk Court households supported on-site redevelopment.

“The dignity of a society governed by the rule of law lies in the fact that the legal property rights of a minority should not – and will not – be easily stripped away under a crude administrative logic of ‘the minority yielding to the majority,'” the April petitions read.

“Even if only two or three buildings can ultimately be reconstructed on site, the government bears an inescapable responsibility to properly address the lawful wishes of these nearly 400 households.”

A massive fire ripped through Wang Fuk Court, a government-subsidised housing complex in Tai Po, in late November, engulfing seven of its eight towers. The blaze – Hong Kong’s deadliest in nearly eight decades – killed 168 people and displaced thousands of residents.