Residents of burned Hong Kong estate choose replacement flats

Residents who lost their homes in Hong Kong’s deadly Tai Po fire started choosing their replacement flats on Tuesday, with some calling on authorities to introduce stamp duty waivers to help ease their financial burden.

After last November’s blaze at Wang Fuk Court, authorities rolled out a HK$7.8 billion (US$994 million) plan to buy back flats at the eight-block subsidised housing estate.

Under the scheme, participants can use the cash compensation to buy a flat on the private open market or join a special sales exercise to purchase new subsidised housing under the government’s “flat-for-flat” arrangement.

A special arrangement also gives priority selection to the first 35 households that signed their letters of acceptance by June 30, giving them the pick of 4,400 flats from 10 subsidised housing estates.