CHAN WING MUN ANITA v. FORTUNE SPEED LTD.

Parties

Procedural Posture

Vendor and Purchaser Summons Under S.12(1) Conveyancing and Property Ordinance (cap.219) / Judgment

Legal Issues

1. 1 Whether facts disclosed in the Loan Agreement raised a real possibility of a resulting trust in favour of VML
2. 2 Whether the Loan Agreement amounted to an express declaration of trust or other registrable instrument binding Besteco/VML
3. 3 Whether any interest of VML was registrable under the Land Registration Ordinance and if non-registration defeated VML's claim

Ratio Decidendi

The Loan Agreement, as drafted, raised a real possibility that VML provided the purchase money and thus that a resulting trust in VML's favour might have arisen; however the Loan Agreement was not signed by Besteco (the legal purchaser) or its authorised agent and therefore did not constitute a written, registrable instrument binding Besteco or amounting to a sufficiently expressed declaration of trust. Resulting trusts are recognised by s.5(2) CPO and need not be in writing or registrable under the Land Registration Ordinance; accordingly non-registration of the Loan Agreement did not extinguish any possible unwritten equitable interest and the plaintiff's requisition as to VML's...

Court Disposition

Judgment for the plaintiff; plaintiff's requisition properly raised; orders made in favour of plaintiff as set out below; liberty to apply on costs paragraph remains

Orders

• Judgment for the plaintiff
• Order in terms of paragraphs 1, 3, 4 and 6 of the originating summons