Property acquisition for Kai Ming Street demand-led redevelopment project to start soon
The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) will issue conditional acquisition offers to property owners affected by the Kai Ming Street demand-led redevelopment project in To Kwa Wan early next month, following its advanced commencement in December 2013 under the third-round demand-led pilot scheme scheduled for implementation in the Authority's 2014/15 Business Plan.
Eligible owner-occupiers of domestic properties of Nos. 41 - 51 Kai Ming Street (odd numbers) will be offered $10,968 per square foot of saleable area which is equivalent to the unit rate of a notional replacement flat of seven-year-old situated in similar locality and of similar size.
The Land, Rehousing and Compensation Committee of the URA Board approved the conditional offers for the project after careful deliberation today (Tuesday).
The decision to advance commencement of the project, which occupies Nos. 41 - 51 (odd numbers), was made taking into account the demolition orders issued by the Buildings Department to the owners of Nos. 45, 47, 49 and 51 Kai Ming Street which require commencement of demolition within nine months.
To forge ahead with this project, a spokesperson for the URA stressed that two pre-requisite conditions must be fulfilled and that the concerted effort of all property owners concerned to accept the conditional acquisition offers is indispensable.
Letters setting out details of the conditional offers to owners of 49 property interests of the project will be issued shortly, which will be valid for 75 days from the date of the offer. There must be an acceptance of URA's conditional offers with execution of Conditional Sale and Purchase Agreements by owners of not less than 80 percent of undivided shares of each lot in the redevelopment sites within the said 75 days before the project is taken a further step for implementation.
If acceptance of the conditional offers up to the said level of
80 percent is successfully attained and if the project submitted by
URA to the Government has been authorised by the Government
thereafter, the URA will then complete the acquisition with owners
and full purchase price will be paid. Otherwise, the URA will
not proceed with the project.
Same as other URA projects, the acquisition offers for domestic
properties are calculated in accordance with the Government's Home
Purchase Allowance (HPA) policy in which HPA is the difference
between the market value of the acquired domestic property and the
value of a seven-year-old notional replacement flat of similar size
in similar locality. In addition to the market value of the
acquired domestic properties, eligible owner-occupiers will receive
the full HPA amount whereas eligible owners holding wholly tenanted
or vacant domestic properties will receive a supplementary
allowance (SA) up to half of the HPA.
In line with the established mechanism, the URA has appointed seven independent valuation firms for the valuation of the unit rate of the seven-year-old notional replacement flat. The whole process is transparent, open and fair.
Domestic owners will also receive an incidental cost allowance (ICA) as an incentive for them to accept the offers within the 75-day offer period. The current ICA for owner-occupied domestic property is $130,400. For domestic property that is wholly tenanted or vacant, the ICA is $101,300.
For non-domestic properties, the acquisition offers to eligible owners will include an ex-gratia allowance on top of the market value. The allowance for tenanted or vacant non-domestic property is 10 per cent of its market value or one time the government rateable value, whichever is higher. The allowance for owner-occupied non-domestic property is 35 per cent of its market value or four times its rateable value, whichever is higher. The market value of each non-domestic property is based on the higher valuation of two independent valuation firms appointed by the URA.
Eligible owners and tenants who operate business in the affected shops will enjoy an additional Ex-gratia Business Allowance (EGBA) payable at the rate of 0.1 time rateable value for each year of continuous occupation of the premises up to a maximum of 30 years, subject to a minimum amount of $70,000 and a maximum of $500,000.
Based on the URA's policy, eligible owners holding tenanted domestic properties will not get any additional compensation for terminating the tenancies with their tenants since their eligibility to compensation is based on their tenanted status on the date of freezing survey; nor will they be entitled to the flat-for-flat option in the event of obtaining possession from their existing tenants after the date of freezing survey.
Upon completion of the property acquisition, the URA will make ex-gratia payment or rehousing arrangement for the domestic tenants concerned, if eligible.
The URA will organise briefings for the affected owners, residents and shop operators to explain to them the acquisition and compensation and rehousing arrangements. An urban renewal social service team staffed by professional social workers of Salvation Army, which is appointed by the Urban Renewal Fund Limited, will provide counselling and practical assistance that the residents may need. The contact number of the social service team is 3586 3095.
The project occupies an area of about 500 square metres with six blocks of tenement buildings. The URA's current proposal is to redevelop the project to provide around 72 residential units of small to medium size, some 300 square metres of commercial area and 450 square metres of Government/Institution and Community facilities.
(ENDS)