We are acting for the majority owners of an aged industrial building situated at a highly prominent location in Kwun Tong, and have successfully obtained an Order for Compulsory Sale under the Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance (Cap. 545) (the “Ordinance”) in respect of the building after a lengthy 10-day trial with very extensive, novel and complex arguments on all fronts, including expert evidence on building condition, structural assessment and valuation. The trial bundles consisted of over 60 lever-arch files.

In arriving at its decision, the Lands Tribunal accepted almost all of the arguments raised by us on behalf of the applicants and the views of the applicants’ experts. The Tribunal also made its own observation during the site visit of the subject building and find without hesitation that redevelopment of the lot is justified by reason of the age and the state of repair of the building.

Furthermore, the Tribunal made extensive ruling on a number of issues, including the zoning of the lot in which the subject building is situated, the factors to be considered and the standard of repair to be adopted in the test of “age or state of repair” of the building.

Importantly and remarkably, this is the very first case where revitalization of industrial building was raised as a defence in a number of aspects, and as a result of which extensive expert evidence on valuation and building condition had been adduced and contested throughout the proceedings. In the Judgment, the Tribunal ruled that revitalization is not a relevant factor for consideration in an application for an order for compulsory sale under the Ordinance.

For the full text of the judgment, please refer to https://legalref.judiciary.hk/doc/judg/word/vetted/other/en/2018/LDCS011000A_2018.docx.

Our litigation team handling this case is led by our partner Mr. Roy Leung and assisted by our associates Mr. Ricky Cheung and Ms. Winnie Hui. We have abundant experience in handling compulsory sale cases under the Ordinance, assisting the teams of experts in different faculties, working out the best strategies, and fighting for the desired outcomes for our clients.