Hong Kong Takes On Rich-Gone-Rogue in Illegal Building Crackdown
Property owners fret that the government will finally get serious about fighting illicit construction.
The landslide below the Redhill Peninsula estate which exposed unauthorized basements.
Photographer: Anthony Kwan/Bloomberg
In a September storm that unleashed Hong Kong’s heaviest rainfall in more than a century, tons of dirt, rocks and debris tumbled into the sea below Redhill Peninsula, a cluster of $10 million-plus modernist town homes on the south side of the island. The landslide left a scar on the hillside, exposing unauthorized basements excavated beneath the foundations of several houses. Government inspectors dispatched to the exclusive enclave soon discovered 48 properties with illegal structures, and 22 of those encroach on city-owned land.
John Lee, the city’s chief executive, has pledged to prosecute Redhill homeowners who broke the rules and bill them for any repairs. And the administration is considering a citywide survey of houses built on slopes to identify further violations, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be identified discussing official business. “The government is serious about the problem of illegal structures,” Lee told reporters a week after the incident.