9,578 buildings have not complied with Hong Kong fire safety orders, with a fifth in same district as blaze-hit property

In its latest reply to the Post, the Buildings Department said 9,578 properties had failed to comply with orders as of December last year.

Yau Tsim Mong district, where New Lucky House is located, was home to 1,843 which had not completed improvement works after authorities carried out inspections and issued directions, the most in any part of the city.

Three other old districts – Sham Shui Po, Central and Western, and Kowloon City – had 1,267, 1,076 and 1,020 such buildings respectively.

“Directions are issued to owners and/or occupiers in light of the actual condition of the building and in accordance with the [Fire Safety (Buildings) Ordinance], requiring them to provide appropriate fire safety installations and equipment and carry out works in relation to fire safety construction, to enhance the fire safety standards of their buildings,” the Buildings Department said.

“The [ordinance’s] purpose is to upgrade the fire safety standards of targeted buildings. It does not mean that the buildings are at risk of fire hazards,” it said.

“In fact, they have been built in accordance with the building and fire safety standards at the time of their construction.”

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The department said anyone who, without reasonable excuse, failed to comply with an order would commit an offence and be liable to a HK$25,000 (US$3,190) fine and a further HK$2,500 for each day the situation remained unresolved.

Enforcement action, such as issuing warning letters and prosecuting owners, would also be taken, it added.

The two departments are at present only entitled to inspect buildings and issue owners or occupiers with fire safety compliance orders that list improvements required.

But the compliance rate is low because it is up to the owners to deliberate and reach a consensus among people living in the buildings.

The Buildings Department said on Friday that as of December 31 last year, the compliance rate for fire safety orders both it and the Fire Services Department had issued was about 37 per cent.

The Buildings Department had issued around 80,000 orders, about 26,000 of which were resolved. The Fire Services Department had made 290,000 orders on 10,400 buildings, and more than 110,000, or 38 per cent, had been complied with as of late March this year.

Authorities earlier said the owners’ corporation of New Lucky House had dismissed an order issued nearly two decades ago to update its fire equipment to the latest standards.

The Buildings Department said it would continue to follow up with the corporation on improvement works and had issued warning letters, adding prosecution might be considered when necessary.

Residents continued to return to the cordoned off building on Friday to retrieve their belongings.

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The Fire Services Department said it had found damaged safety doors designed to prevent smoke from spreading on 11 of the 16 floors, which were: ground, first, second, third, fifth, seventh, 10th, 11th, 12th, 15th and 16th floor. Suspected illegal structures and subdivided flats were also found.

It said that during inspections in 2023 and 2021 in response to complaints, officers found, respectively, one and 27 fire-resistant doors were so damaged they could not close. The department said it had issued two fire hazard abatement notices, which had been complied with.

“Officers also inspected the building on February 9 this year with the purpose of reviewing the fire safety improvement works, and no fire hazards were found,” it said.

“There was no detailed investigation of the annual inspection records of all fire safety installations and equipment at that time.”

The department said the last annual inspection was conducted in September 2022, when officers found safety installations did not have valid annual inspection certificates. An investigation was still under way.

Additional reporting by Elizabeth Cheung