Tsui Lai Wai v. The Incorporated Owners of Lok Ku House [2022] HKLdT 32; LDBM 58/2021

The case concerned the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the DMC and in particular the clause where it stated that each owner has the free and uninterrupted passage and running of water gas and electricity from and to the building through cables pipes etc. which are now or may at any time hereafter passing through the building.

The Applicant thus argued that she was entitled to have full right to such supply which had been connected to the unit long time before she purchased the unit. The IO disagreed and counterclaimed that such connection thereto the unit was unauthorized and hence shall not be entitled under the DMC.

The Tribunal agreed with the submission of the IO and held that the phare “which now are or may at any time hereafter” shall be construed as either existing at the time of the making of the DMC or by way of network to be subsequently installed in the building. As there was no evidence to prove that the “existing” connection of water and electricity to the unit had been in existence at the time of making the DMC nor these connections had been approved by the IO as part of the collective network to the building subsequently, the claim was dismissed with cost to the Respondent IO.

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The full judgement is available here.