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Almost four months have passed since a deadly blaze engulfed seven of the eight towers at Wang Fuk Court, a housing estate in Tai Po, killing 168 people and displacing thousands. For survivors, however, unresolved issues remain.
Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on December 10, 2025. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.Residents petitioned Hong Kong leader John Lee this week to facilitate a meeting between them and the government-appointed administrator, Hop On Management, which took over as administrator of Wang Fuk Court after a tribunal dissolved the owners’ committee at the fire-ravaged estate.
The 430-plus residents who signed the petition set out the concerns they would raise with Hop On. High on the agenda: the progress of insurance claims.
Like many high-rise complexes in Hong Kong, Wang Fuk Court is insured. Its owners’ board had purchased mandatory insurance, such as public liability and employees’ compensation, as well as a HK$2 billion “fire insurance” policy intended to cover rebuilding costs.
However, the unprecedented scale of the disaster has posed a significant challenge to insurance disbursements, particularly as it remains unclear whether the estate will eventually be rebuilt or torn down.
HKFP looks into Wang Fuk Court’s insurance policies and the uncertainties that complicate the process of making claims.
What insurance does Wang Fuk Court have?
Wang Fuk Court is a housing estate under the Home Ownership Scheme, a government-subsidised housing programme.
In Hong Kong, residential buildings are required to purchase two types of insurance. The first is public liability insurance, which covers compensation and legal costs for injuries or deaths due to management negligence. The second is employees’ compensation insurance, which provides compensation for building staff who are injured or killed in the course of employment.
While it is not required by law for buildings to have fire insurance, which covers repair costs arising from a blaze, most buildings opt to purchase it to satisfy banks’ mortgage requirements.
According to minutes of a December 2024 owners’ board meeting, Wang Fuk Court is insured by China Taiping Insurance Holdings for the mandatory insurance as well as fire insurance.
The coverage amount for Wang Fuk Court’s fire insurance is HK$2 billion, while that for its public liability insurance is capped at HK$20 million per incident.
A screenshot of the minutes of a 2024 Wang Fuk Court owners’ board meeting, which shows the insurance plans of the Tai Po housing estate. Photo: Screenshot.Individual Wang Fuk Court residents may also hold private plans. As of early February, about 85 per cent of the claims under such individual plans had been settled, totalling almost HK$510 million in disbursement, according to the Insurance Authority.
That included more than 1,000 general insurance claims and 169 life insurance claims, involving HK$450 million and HK$60 million, respectively.
Insurers have adopted a “special handling” approach, for example waiving the need for Wang Fuk Court residents to produce proof of their belongings lost in the fire.
However, the claims for estate-wide fire insurance may be more complex, as the insurance firm has not been able to enter Wang Fuk Court to examine the damage following the blaze, according to the Hong Kong Federation of Insurers (HKFI).
The matter has been further complicated after the government proposed demolishing the seven buildings ravaged by the fire, raising questions about whether the insurance, which covers the cost of rebuilding, will apply.
What does the HK$2 billion fire insurance cover?
In principle, fire insurance covers the building’s structure and its common parts.
“That means its exteriors, walls, ceilings, floors, and the windows in the corridors, etc.,” HKFI CEO Selina Lau told a radio programme in Cantonese last month.
“For Wang Fuk Court, the HK$2 billion [fire insurance] purchased by the owners’ board also covers each residential unit as well as the public areas, such as stairs and lifts,” she said.
Wang Fuk Court in Tai Po on December 10, 2025. Photo: Kelly Ho/HKFP.The fact that the fire insurance covers common areas of Wang Fuk Court also means the disbursement will not be divided and allocated to the owners of the estate’s 1,984 flat units, Lau said. “We are not talking about each household getting HK$1 million by dividing the HK$2 billion,” she said.
“The insurance is about restoring Wang Fuk Court to its state before the fire,” Lau said. “This HK$2 billion does not include premiums or [the flats’] market values; it is solely about construction costs.”
The cost of rebuilding Wang Fuk Court may vary due to legal requirements for building safety and structural integrity, Lau warned.
“It’s impossible to rebuild [Wang Fuk Court] as it was close to 50 years ago,” she said. Wang Fuk Court was established in 1983.
“There will be new elements… perhaps there will be improvements in fire safety equipment and construction materials.”
Speaking on the same radio programme, Tony Wan, president of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors, estimated that rebuilding Wang Fuk Court could cost about HK$2.7 billion, based on an average cost of HK$3,000 per square foot for building government-subsidised flats.
What happens if the government decides to tear it down?
Although it remains a hope for some residents, the prospect of rebuilding Wang Fuk Court appears slim after the government said it intended to demolish the charred blocks and build a park or other community facilities on the site.
In February, while unveiling the government’s HK$6.8 billion buyout plan, Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong said rebuilding Wang Fuk Court was “not appropriate” because it would take at least nine years, and many residents may already have started a life elsewhere.
Hong Kong Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong addresses the Legislative Council on January 14, 2026. Photo: Kyle Lam/HKFP.Authorities intend to acquire the property titles from flat owners, either in cash or as part of a flat-swap arrangement.
If the government is successful in acquiring the titles, the beneficiary of Wang Fuk Court’s fire insurance will be transferred to the government, said Lau, CEO of the HKFI.
“Future claims will be negotiated by the government and the insurance company. Because it is not a rebuilding plan, it is unclear what the disbursement amount will be,” she added.
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