Need some legal advice!

I own a duplex in HK and rent it out to a tenant - no problems. In the recent typhoon, a plane of glass blew off a structure (like a small conservatory) on the balcony and crashed onto the roof of the duplex below.


There was some damage to a few roof tiles and some broken glass obviously but no other damage and no one was hurt.


Obviously I will reimburse the neighbour for the damaged roof tiles, but I have been informed that they have contacted the police and reported an illegal structure on my balcony!! They also said they would take legal proceedings if I didn't repond to their email in 3 days !!!! (For the record, I have, very politely, assured them that their damage will be covered by me).


What gets me is that yes it's a small illegal structure (what dwelling in HK doesn't have one?), but why would they be so confrontational?? This is typhoon damage we are talking about and only happened a few days ago....


Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Reporting things to the police seems to be the Hong Kong way, unfortunately. If there's a noisy party going on, neighbours will report it to the police rather than knock on the door and politely ask for the noise to be reduced.

The existence of an illegal structure could be a breach of the Government Lease (Giant River Ltd v Asie Marketing Ltd [1990] 1 HKLR 297, Regent Summit [1998], Century Legend [1999]), which could result in the Government re-entering your property for breach of the Government Lease.


In Yili Concepts v Lee Wai Chuen [2000], it was held that a balcony was an illegal structure.


You should therefore remove the illegal structure asap or obtain an exemption from the Building Authority otherwise the Building Authority may issue a remedial or closure notice to you and if you ignore it, they will remove the illegal structure themselves and impose a charge on the title to your property (Kok Chong Ho v Double Value Developments [1990]).


Hope this helps.

they have reported to the police, but I don't think the police will

do secretarial work and report it to the Buildings Dept. who are

responsible for enforcing orders.


Perhaps you could speak to your neighbours and apologise for

the inconvenience caused, and send a fruit basket as an apology.


Bear in mind, if you can't build, neither can they!!