Wang Fuk Court Fire Compensation Hinges on Probe Findings

Whether Wang Fuk Court residents can win compensation for losses arising from Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades will depend significantly on the findings of the independent committee investigating the disaster as claimants must prove negligence was involved, experts have said. The experts’ comments came after some residents of the Tai Po estate said that recently released documents on the government’s buy-back plan were ambiguous about their rights to pursue insurance claims and other damages after selling their flats. A Housing Bureau spokesman told the South China Morning Post that the government would not ask owners to forfeit their rights to civil claims upon selling their flats. “Property owners who accept the government’s buyout scheme are not required to waive their right to future civil claims,” he said. “Owners can decide whether to pursue civil lawsuits later based on the facts and actual circumstances.” Wang Fuk Court was undergoing a HK$336 million (US$42.9 million) renovation project when the fire broke out on November 26 last year and raged for about 43 hours, killing 168 people and displacing about 5,000 others.