Chinese Buildings...public areas

Posted by walkup (280 days ago)

During the last fortnight I had a look at 2 apartments for sale, one on Peel St and the other on Elgin Street. Both priced at ~ 2.8m. What was particularly disappointing was the condition of the public areas including poor paintwork and exposed wiring. It was enough not to get enthusiastic about either of the apartments. Short of buying a whole building and revamping it are there any possible solutions to this problem? Some buildings of the same type are reasonably well cared for.

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Posted by spannermonkey (269 days ago)

Walkup, the ony way to do it would be to get the buy-in from the other residents and get them to chip in. They wont however as they've been living in those conditions for years and have no interest. The only way would be for you to pay yourself. However, if the conditions were a threat to public safety and needed attention, you could get the authorites inloved and have an order issued. You would have to be an owner though to do this and the remedial work wont be asthetic.

Posted by ChrisD (265 days ago)

The other problem is that -- now property values have rebounded -- many owners are finally willing to spend on improvements.

But since everyone is feeling the same way, good contractors are very busy, have their pick of projects and can charge a premium.

Chris Dillon
Author
Landed: The expatriates guide to buying and renovating property in Honk Kong (landed.hk)