Macau Business. By Aries Un. 13 December 2022.
Legislators yesterday passed the urban renewal law that will lay the groundwork for a facelift of the city’s rundown housing estates.
Under the legal framework that will become effective on 1 June 2023, a complete renovation is possible for a building aged between 30 and 40 if 85 per cent of its flat owners give their consent.
As for residential buildings that are at least 40 years old, the approval threshold goes down by 5 percentage points.
However, for those found by authorities to be in need of a makeover for emergency purposes, only 60 per cent of property owners’ approval is needed.
Presenting the content of the law to fellow lawmakers, Chan Chak Mo, who heads the Second Standing Committee of the Legislative Assembly, however, stressed that the law does not cover buildings that belong to one single owner.
It does not apply to the scenario where buildings with different ownership is converted into constructions owned by one single person, Chan added.
Lawmakers were also told that Macau Urban Renewal, a company founded by the government to handle urban renewal undertakings, would not “pay to acquire housing ownership” – which suggests that all costs associated with a building’s revamp will be shouldered by private owners themselves.
Owners who struggle to see eye-to-eye about payments are allowed to resort to arbitration to resolve disagreements.
