Illegal subdivided flats in
Tsuen Wan industrial building
can pose serious safety hazards
Hidden Places
Wah Wai Industrial Building in Tsuen Wan has dozens of studios and offices for lease. There are also illegal subdivided flats hidden among those, luring tenants who seek affordable and convenient nests in Hong Kong.
Among the many subdivided rooms in the Wah Wai Industrial Building, one flat can houses 12 people, all sharing one space. Most of them are divided into small cubicles 50 to 60 square feet in size and housing a bunk bed that can accommodate two people.
More than 220,000 people live in subdivided flats in Hong Kong, and about 12,000 of those are in industrial buildings, according to 2022 research by the Society for Community Organization.
While subdividing a flat to rent to multiple tenants is not illegal, owners must follow strict safety requirements set out by the government. However, renting out space in an industrial building for residential living, whether it is subdivided or not, is illegal.
According to the Buildings Department, if an owner changes the unit in the industrial buildings for domestic use, he or she may be sued or fined by the regulators.
Inside the flats
Wah Wai Industrial building has been on the list of industrial buildings with the Building Department’s enforcement action taken against illegal domestic premises for six months.
Tsuen Wan Fire Station is only a few steps away from the Wah Wai industrial building. Firefighters said they would cooperate irregularly with other departments to inspect inside industrial buildings around the area.
“Not only firefighters, sometimes even the police will come to the subdivided flats when there are conflicts between the residents,” said Sze Lai-shan, a social worker with the non-profit SoCO.
Despite these inspections, subdivided flats continue to proliferate in industrial buildings.
Safety hazard of subdivided flats in Industrial Buildings is also a serious issue for the residents.
In June, a fire broke out in a small storage facility inside a large industrial building in Ngau Tau Kok. The fire burned for 108 hours, making it the longest fire in an industrial building in Hong Kong at that time, resulting in the death of two firefighters.
The incident has drawn public attention to fire safety issues in old industrial buildings, and the government has promised to crack down on illegal units in industrial buildings and impose harsher penalties on owners.
"I think there are many hidden dangers in living in industrial buildings. It is difficult to evacuate in the event of a fire, especially if it happens in the middle of the night," said Xia Renhui, 52, who has been living in this subdivided flat in Tsuen Wan for five years.
Because all residents here have their own electrical appliances, such as induction cookers, kettles, microwaves, etc, if many tenants turn on all their appliances at the same time, overloading the wires could cause a fire, he said.
According to the Building Department, tenants in industrial buildings converted for residential use may be exposed to high fire risks arising from other units still used for industrial activities or the storage of hazardous and flammable materials.
Kee Yee-chun, an associate professor in the Department of Building and Real Estate at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said there's no enough facilities to ensure residents safety during the fire in the industrial buildings.
“If I lived somewhere else, I wouldn’t have any subsidy at all.”
- Xia Renhui
The survey from SoCo shows that the majority of households in industrial buildings work part-time or temporary jobs, accounting for 82.2% of the respondents, but their median household income is only HK$9,166. The median income of the employed population in Hong Kong is HK$ 20,000 in the first quarter of 2024, according to the government. Although the median rent of industrial buildings is also HK$3,000 for each room, the rent is still 40% lower than that of HK$5,000 in residential subdivided houses, where many low-income workers in Hong Kong live.
Listen to the residents
Zhen Lin, 42, who came from Fujian to Hong Kong two years ago, she said she didn’t know that living inside an industrial building is illegal.
When she first arrived in Hong Kong, as anxious as other newcomers, Zhen was yearning for the first spot to settle down. She was then recommended to rent a subdivided flat in Wah Wai industrial building
“Someone in a WeChat group told me it was very cheap,” said Zhen. Now she only needed to pay HK$1,800 per month for her 5 square metres flat. The rentals will be only paid in cash to a manager who represents the landlord.
Zhen shared her tiny room with her friends who is also from the Fujian Province.
“I have no plan to move out yet. Public housing has a long waiting list, and obviously, I can’t afford private housing.”
- Zhen Lin
Zheng Wenhui
a tenant living in the Wah Wai industry building for almost three years
Lilian Lee from the Buildings Department said that if the department has taken action on the building, they will inform the landlords instead of the residents. They said they don't know about the exact time for residents to move out of the building.
The Future
According to SoCo's Research report on transitional housing options for industrial buildings, the government can convert industrial buildings into transitional housing on a large scale to increase the number of rentable units.
In September 2023, the non-governmental organisation "Light Be" was approved for HK$91.3 million to rebuild industrial buildings into transitional housing for short-term accommodation, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.
The 6-storey height industrial building in Yau Tong will be converted into a transitional housing "Light Factory", which will be operated by "Light Be" for a period of not less than 5 years. About 166 units will be provided, and approximately 560 people are expected to benefit.
A year ago, Xia moved into a transitional house provided by the government because the dilapidated house he lived in at the time needed to be renovated.
“Because if I lived somewhere else, I wouldn’t have any subsidy at all,” he said.
Even so, the rent for the transitional house is still HK$2,000 more expensive than before, almost double my previous rent, because the utility bills are much higher.
"I hope to have a really cheap, safe and comfortable place to live in Hong Kong, and I hope the government can provide it to us low-income people."
Soco said that the government should not evict all residents of the industrial building. They recommended that authorities first conduct a safety rating and suspend demolition orders for industrial buildings that pose no safety risk.
“Large-scale conversion of industrial buildings into transitional housing could be one approach. But the government still has a long way to go to make rents reasonable and provide them with more houses and addresses to choose from,” Sze said.
According to the report, since there is little precedent for converting an entire industrial building into residential use, and many departments are involved, even if the owners are interested in the project, they have to face more challenges because they need to coordinate with different departments at the same time, it is estimated that it will take a long time to coordinate.
So, Soco recommends that the government should set up a transitional housing policy and actively streamline the cooperation between various departments through the team under the Transport and Housing Bureau. The government should take an active role in streamlining the process.
Only when an industrial building of a certain size is renovated into transitional housing will a possible solution be available to these residents who illegally live in the industrial building.