The estate has seen batches of new tenants, with dozens of newcomers, often dressed in construction-site attire, hanging clothes and eating meals outside.

Every morning, they load into a boat which takes them to a nearby construction site, returning later in the evening.

The presence of the newcomers had led to a showdown between some in the community and the workers’ employers – subsidiaries of major state-owned enterprises.

The firms had used The Sea Ranch to house imported workers, hired for the construction of an incinerator on a nearby island.

But the estate only received public attention last week when a suspected serial burglar was found seriously injured on the estate’s private pier. He later died in hospital.

While not all residents who spoke to the Post were against the workers moving in, many said that recent events had disrupted their otherwise peaceful community.

“I came here because I wish to have a quiet life,” said Mary* a 68-year-old retired Hongkonger Sea Ranch resident. “That’s why we are really concerned.”

Billed as a luxury “second-home” retreat for Hong Kong socialites when it opened in 1979, The Sea Ranch offered 200 flats with unhindered ocean views complete with private beach access, clubhouse and a direct ferry into Central.

But the developer, Hutchison Whampoa, could not sustain the heavy operating costs and pulled out entirely in 1983. It left the estate to the residents to manage, with some flats reportedly sold for as little as HK$1 (13 US cents).

The ensuing years were fraught with legal battles between owners and management companies. The clubhouse, along with its amenities and the direct ferry to Central, were shut down. Most of the flats were left to decay.

Now, The Sea Ranch is only home to about 40 full-time residents – a mixed bag of locals and expats.

Those who spoke to the Post said it offered something unlike anything else in Hong Kong.

Part of the estate’s appeal is its extraordinarily cheap prices. American resident Andrew De Caro bought his first flat measuring 1,250 square feet (116 square metres) for just HK$1.2 million in 2009 – less than a tenth of what one would spend for a similar unit at Discovery Bay.

“It’s a small community, we all know one another,” De Caro, 60, said. “There’s just a better way this all could have been managed.”

Things started to change around 2019 when The Sea Ranch received its first group of imported workers, with some residents telling the Post they were not informed of their arrival.

A second group arrived last summer and complaints began to pile up about hygiene, trash, rodents, the building of commercial-sized kitchens and issues with water pressure in the buildings housing the workers.

Police said the man, who was from mainland China, was believed to have plunged to his death during an attempted robbery. The force also highlighted that the man and two of his suspected accomplices were not labourers working near the estate, contradicting speculation among some in the community.

Peter Frankowski, a 85-year-old retired German who had lived at The Sea Ranch since 2017, said he tried contacting government departments in recent years to resolve issues involving the workers and the estate’s overall management, but saw little action taken.

“The interaction with the government is dismal because you get, you know, fobbed off every time,” Frankowski said.

According to a notice seen by the Post, and confirmed by residents familiar with the matter, the latest group of workers are employed by PowerChina Sichuan Engineering Corporation.

A notice issued by the company, dated April 26 and addressed to residents, said it “deeply apologised” for the disturbance and concerns raised.

It said it could provide a list of its employees to the estate’s management office but refused to reveal its tenancy agreements.

On a recent visit to The Sea Ranch, the Post observed two police officers patrolling the premises, which residents said was a recent development.

Two notices dated May 6 were also seen at the estate’s Pier, which said the workers were not allowed on the estate’s boat to Cheung Chau. Rules barring non-residents of the community from using the boat were also reinstated.

Not all of the residents shared the same concerns. Two of the estate’s residents told the Post they had no issues with the workers being at Sea Ranch.

A resident who asked not to be named due to the close-knit nature of the community said he felt the actions of others went too far.

“I see those foreign workers crying and chatting with their families on the phone every day,” he said. “They only go home once or twice a year. I don’t know why people here bully them like this.”

The Labour Department said they were brought in under the city’s Enhanced Supplementary Labour Scheme to work on the Integrated Waste Management Facilities phase 1 site.

The HK$31 billion project is a joint venture between Keppel Seghers and Zhen Hua Engineering Company, a local representative of Beijing-based China Harbour Engineering Company, which is itself a subsidiary of state-owned giant China Communications Construction Company.

Under the scheme, an employer is responsible for providing accommodation for its workers, which it can arrange itself, according to the Labour Department.

No breach of the requirements had been found when it inspected workers’ accommodation in this case, it added.

The exact number of imported workers living at the estate has not been publicly disclosed.

The Labour Department said that it had approved 590 imported workers for the waste management facility between 2019 and 2023, but that it did not maintain statistics on how many workers were currently employed.

The Post saw at least 75 workers disembark at The Sea Ranch shortly before 6pm on a recent visit, while residents estimated there to be as many as 180.

A source familiar with the estate’s affairs said that the workers now lived in at least 25 flats at The Sea Ranch, with as many as 22 people in one home.

Only a few members of the community were ever consulted about the arrangements, the source said, adding that repeated attempts by the owners’ committee to inspect the flats or obtain details about the workers arrangements had been refused.

Three days after the suspected burglar was found on the pier, Zhen Hua Engineering Company met a member of The Sea Ranch Incorporated Owners Committee and said it was willing to help solve the estate’s problems as long as the workers could stay, the source said.

Zhen Hua Engineering Company did not respond to the Post’s request for comment.

The Environmental Protection Department said it had taken “immediate action” to address concerns, including meeting a representative of residents.

Without naming any companies, the department said the contractor had installed a new water pump at the building hosting the workers and made repairs to the estate’s pier.

“The contractor also reminded their imported workers to maintain [a] good relationship with nearby residents,” it said.

* Name changed at interviewee’s request