01 Investigation
Written by: Chen Runnan
2020-09-24 07:38
Last update date: 2020-09-24 07:38
Under the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the market is sluggish, and shopping malls are hit hard.
"Hong Kong 01" uses online court records to show that the eight major shopping malls in Hong Kong (Shatin New Town, Times Square, Langham Place, Harbour City, Lok Fu Plaza, APM, YOHO Mall, Pacific Place) have been filed in the last three years. Rent figures to understand Hong Kong’s retail business environment.
Statistics show that the filing figures of Shatin New Town Plaza under SHKP and Times Square and Harbour City under Wharf Properties have increased significantly. Both the number of filings and the amount involved have increased by nearly 50% to double that of last year.
There are many international brands such as VIVIENNE WESTWOOD and FRED PERRY that have been chased by Harbour City.
The Shatin New Town Plaza involved the largest filing amount, reaching 23.57 million yuan.
In addition, the number of rent claims filed by YOHO MALL in Yuen Long last year also rose sharply. There were 88 rent claims cases in the whole year, and 76 cases were filed after July.
However, there are also shopping malls that maintain a record of zero leasing claims, saying that they will try to negotiate with the merchants.
▼ Harbour City, when the epidemic was the worst, once went on strike ▼
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Last year, the government forcibly pushed for fugitive offenders to amend the ordinance, which aroused public opposition, and an anti-revision movement broke out in Hong Kong. By the beginning of this year, the new crown pneumonia spread from Wuhan to Hong Kong after the outbreak, and Hong Kong's economy was hit hard.
According to the online court record system, the reporter collected statistics on the lease claims of eight large shopping malls in Hong Kong in the past three years.
There are eight shopping malls in various districts of Hong Kong, Kowloon and New Territories, commercial tourist areas and residential areas. The developers of the shopping malls include Sun Hung Kai Properties, Wharf, Champion Real Estate Trust, Link and Swire Properties.
From the data, it can be seen that the filing figures of Sha Tin New Town Plaza under Sun Hung Kai Properties, Times Square and Harbour City in Wharf in the past three years have increased year by year, and the increase has been significant.
This year, the Shatin New Town Plaza and Harbour City will stand out from the crowd, and the rent-seeking amount will be at least 25 million yuan each.
In the past three years, Langham Place and Pacific Place have not pursued rent through filing methods.
VIVIENNE WESTWOOD and FRED PERRY were filed for rent by Harbour City
The rental list of Harbour City includes many well-known international brand retailers, including British menswear brand FRED PERRY, mens underwear brand HOM, British fashion brand VIVIENNE WESTWOOD, Italian menswear brand BOGGI MILANO, Abebi, ARMANI JUNIOR, etc. And so on, rent arrears range from hundreds of thousands to more than one million.
Regarding the rent chase in Harbour City, the shopping mall did not reply to the inquiry before the deadline.
Seaport City is very "decisive" in pursuing rent. Earlier G2000 chairman Tian Beichen revealed that the G2000 branch only paid 50% of the rent during the period from February to April, but the owner asked the group to pay half of the rent. During the period of the two parties, the owner had no notice. The shop was closed down and handed over to the bailiff to take over. Tian thought it was unreasonable.
As for Shatin New Town Plaza’s rent-recovery list this year, it also includes Yongnian Chezai Noodle Cafe, Hey Tea, Watch Shop “TIE TAC TIME”, PIZZAEXPRESS, etc., which are referred to as “Blue Shops”. For example, Yongnian Chazai Noodles were filed twice a year, with a total of nearly $1.5 million.
In the 721 incident, a large number of people in white indiscriminately attacked citizens in Yuen Long, and the people in white once entered YOHO MALL.
(Profile Picture / Photo by Chen Yongwu)
After Yuen Long 721, YOHO MALL filed a report for rent chasing and arrears reached 12.54 million yuan
In addition, the number of rent claims filed by Yuen Long YOHO MALL in 2019 has also risen sharply, nearly six times higher than in 2018, with at least 88 rent claims in the whole year.
It is worth noting that more than 80% of the cases, a total of 76 cases were filed after July 2019.
In 2019, the amount of rent chasing reached RMB 12.54 million. Entering 2020, YOHO MALL's filing of rent chasing cases has returned to 14 again, reaching the level of 2018.
With reference to the events of the same year, the Yuen Long YOHO Mall was connected to the Yuen Long West Rail Station. In the 721 incident, the people in white violently attacked citizens indiscriminately. The people in white also chased the citizens to the shopping mall.
Sun Hung Kai did not respond to reporters' enquiries regarding the lease and operation of Shatin New Town Plaza and YOHO MALL.
Under the epidemic, some shopping malls have chosen not to file for rent pursuit.
For example, Pacific Place, a subsidiary of Swire Properties, has not filed any rent claims in the past three years.
Langham Place of Champion Real Estate Trust only filed in 2019.
Swire Properties responded to inquiries, saying that it values the long-term partnership with its tenants.
(Photo by Ouyang Dehao)
Three years of zero filing with Swire Properties: Cherish the relationship with tenants
Swire Properties responded to inquiries, saying that it values the long-term partnership with its tenants.
The company is one of the first developers to provide rent support measures to tenants since July 2019.
The company will take the initiative to contact all tenants and provide appropriate assistance based on the situation of individual industry tenants.
The relevant measures have been uninterrupted since July 2019.
If the tenant encounters difficulties and owes rent, the company will try its best to negotiate with the tenant to resolve it, and will only consider taking legal action in the individual cases where the agreement cannot be reached.
The top priority now is to help tenants maintain operations and tide over difficulties.
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