Posted by
dimac4
19 yrs ago
Just bought a village house in Sai Kung with a glass structure on the roof about the size of a laundry (which is what I was intending to use it as). It has apparently been on this roof for about 10 years.
Well the owners of the adjoining property came to see their property after about 15 years of not stepping into the place- demanded the trees be chopped down that are in our government rented garden, and sent a letter of complaint to the building department about the illegal structure on the roof. The structure in no way inteferes with their property but they needed to complain about it - it is not huge, and we haven't even had a peep out of them before we get this letter from the lands department. I just don't understand the mentality of people in HK...we are now up for expense of removing the structure, and will have to because the department concerned will inspect after a certain date to make it come down.
Are they doing it out of spite because their future tenants might ask for a similar thing - or because they are just being pratts. We were planning to put an awning up to help the washing dry on bad days...so I suppose we have already figured out the friendly neighbours next door response to that! We haven't even met them or know who they are!!!
And why can't people build things on their roof? Why can't the buildings department set up a set of rules and regulations and people can apply for such things - just like in other civilised countries???
There are many illegal structures on roofs all over Sai Kung and Clearwater Bay - how come mine had to be taken away???
AND then the management company have closed the pool as a bribery to make the house owners in the complex pay $60,000 each (30 houses) to buy out their shares of the pool. But the management fees include use of the pool and pool cleaning - so i am not paying my management fees for the duration - they haven't even sent us a contract outlining what the management fees cover - just sent us the bill.
Then the tenant who is moving out is giving us a bill for all the fixing he has done in the two years he has been there - new A/c, piping, taps,etc otherwise he is going to take them with him and we will have to pay for them to be replaced anyway..... why didn't he give the bill to the previous owner who owned the place when he lived there???
Anyone want to buy a house??? Great neighbourhood!
I think I will go back to renting and let someone else deal with the problems of ownership!
Just needed to vent!
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http://www.bd.gov.hk/english/services/index_faqA.html
try reading through this link. may help you understand the unauthorised building works = illegal structures law and rules here in hong kong. good luck.
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Thanks for the understanding and the information - what constitutes an awning? A canvas covered scaffold with the scaffold being fixed to the side of the roof or house to prevent it being torn off during typhoon?
An awning made of more hardy material such as aluminium sheeting fixed to a scaffold on the roof again. We would like to put a 'roof' on the house to help with 1. a slightly leaking roof, 2. insulation against the sun, 3. have somewhere to dry the clothes on days when it is not perfect weather without using a dryer.
What annoys me is that the government assumes that because it is illegal it is unsafe and breaches fire safety regulations etc. I do think that the newer village houses are built better, and the 'illegal' structures are probably better built than the house itself.
Granted there are alot of dodgy illegal strctures on multistory multihousehold dwellings - but when it is a single household dwelling I just can't see their could be too many problems if the structure is built safely.
I will be building storage cabinets on the roof for stuff - of course now I know they have to be under the certain height, that will help with the planning to prevent the expense of removal after some !@$%^%&* neighbour complains.
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To me they are MORE dangerous than a fixed structure - esp in a typhoon. HK laws drive me crazy....
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They have already been around to inspect the property apparently, but no one was home, so need to make another appointment....
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Simple simon - the land around our place is the designated garden the developer gave the property - the developer applied to the government 18 years ago to 'rent ' the land - nothing to do with me but I am sure it is possible - go to the district offices in the your district.
Temporary structures are stuructures which can be taken down - like corrugated iron, canvas etc (although it seems any and all structures in HK can be deemed temporary as they are taken down at any time for development). The structure in your village is probably built on government land without permission - there are no rights for squatters in HK - there are not many rights for owners either when it comes down to wanting to evict people for development.
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Found out today that you can have an awning made of wood and glass or whatever on your roof as long as it takes up less than a third of the area of the rooftop, also you can have cupboards etc on the roof as long thay do not extend higher than the side of the rooftop area parapet. Saw a really neat idea for converting the rooftop into a reallt nice area - the big wooden squares laid on top of the tiles or concrete, with river pebbles in other areas- it looks really beautiful.
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Tammy
18 yrs ago
dimac4 < where did you see the legistration about building something on one third of the roof business? I'm thinking about building something on the roof and not sure whether to take the chance. I need more info!! Thanks in advance.
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dimac4, are you still around? I'm curious how you found out about the awning on the roof scenario, about it being less than 1/3 of the area? I have a terrace from my 1/F flat which I want to put something on - it is technically called a flat roof - would the same thing apply do you think? It is 400 sq ft so can I have something up to 130 sq ft on it?
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As far as I know, there is no legislation permitting building a structure that takes up 1/3 of the roof/terrace/flat roof. We have just received notice for a laundry room that takes up about 5% of our roof.
If there is something on the roof then the BD determines if it is a structure - if it is a structure built without authorisation from the BD then it is an illegal structure.
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has anyone ever actually gone through the process of making a structure legal? Will the BD give any guidance? Or just best to be sneaky about anything you do?
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cheeky, r u living in an apartment or 1/F of a village house?
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Havefaith,
Where are you located and did your neighbors also receive notices for their illegal structures?
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Our neighbours did not receive notice. In fact, our neighbour (the one without the illegal structure) called the BD to complain about the illegal structure.
I have not gone through the process of making the structure legal - I was advised by our real estate lawyers not to bother with it - it was after all a laundry room.
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Vanilla, I am on 1/F apartment with 400 sq ft flat room extending from same level as living space.
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cheeky, to summarize, any type of non-removable / non-collapsable stucture built without the approval of the Buildings Department is classified as illegal structure. The amount of floor area that can be built within an estate / building is given by a plot ratio. By definition, if the developer has not built to the maximum amount then there is the difference you can build on.
If anyone already has an illegal structure, then it is in their best to keep "hush". It is very, very hard, even if possible to legallise an existing illegal structure. Once an enquiry file is opened with the BD ..... chances are .... not too good.
To legally build a structure, the time required is from months to years and then offcourse there is a cost for the engineers to do calculations and architect to do submissions to bd. $50,000? $100,000? $200,000? the fee will vary depending on amount of work required. If you are living in a house then maybe very well worth it.
The above is basically for residential apartments and low density residentials. For village type houses, there are many grey areas.
I'm not an expert in this area, (an authorize architect should be the professionl to ask as they are the ones dealing with bd) but has been through some of these cases.
Hope haven't made anyone feel bad or worst. Anyways, good luck.
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Our laundry room is actually movable and collaspable - but BD is not of the same opinion. I spoke with our real estate lawyer - and she has advised me that many laundry rooms that are removable still receive notices because no one hast taken the BD to court to contest their interpretation of "the definition of illegal structure". The definition is quite clear - but the interpretation is less clear.
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haha .... actually i know what you mean, japanese sheds are illegal, fixed glass awnings are illegal, etc. etc. anything u have additional on the exterior and that they see you don't plan to move and have it there on the long term can be seen as being illegal. the final decision is bd or their rep. i donno whether it's goning to work now for you havefaith, since the file is opened at bd ..... but play nice and "sometimes" they turn a blind eye.
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gwern
17 yrs ago
I am looking into having a sail type awning put on the roof of my newly purchased property. The idea being to create shade. Does anyone know if
1. Is this legal?
2. has anyone doen this?
3. How does it fair in windy weather?
I am also interested in puttting internal stairs up to the roof, Has anyone doe this? Ideas for cost and waterproofing?
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gwern
17 yrs ago
Please can you let me know what is the average cost of building internal stairs? This is something I'd be keen to do but I have no idea of cost here in HK...thanks!
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cheeky, dimac4 is no longer around unless she’s going by an alias…dimac4 vowed to never return to these here forums.
nw - i am a born again user and don't go by the name of Simple Simon (although my mind hasn't been converted and still remains simple). Ed the Almighty had shown me the right of way and I now no longer practice Sarcasticology.
I didn't eventually go down the decking route and ended up putting the money into the garden. As for decking costs, it will depend on the size of area you want done since you’re also thinking about using pebbles in your 700sqft space. There are a couple of shops that specialize in decking on Lockhart Road and they'll give you an accurate cost for what you want done (are you located on the island side?). The least expensive way will be to have one level of decking as the more complicated the design (example different levels or steps and etc) the more expensive it will get as labour, timber/decking is charged by the sqft. At a guess I would say anywhere from $15,000 - $20,000 in addition to the cost of the white pebbles. I don’t think they’re pebbles actually, they seem to be man made ‘natural-looking’ shapes from white porous stone/marble that have a nice rounded smooth to touch surface. The ‘pebbles’ come in sacks and each sack (depending on size of sack so I’m just talking about the size I got for my own garden) is good to generously cover an area of about 2-3sqft. The cost of a sack of pebbles is about $150 from Portland Street, Mong Kok but I got mine from Foshan in China for about $50 each. You could also consider using the decking square that a lot of places sell and this could be a cheaper option.
Good luck!
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I see the Building Department has removed the FAQ regarding what is acceptable to put on the roof. Sunshade or awnings used to be ok. It used to have the 1.3m or not above lowest wall, doesn't add to drainage, doesn't structurally affect the rooftop, doesn't block fire exit.... Now there is nothing baring low cabinets thats deemed ok.
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