31 Mar 2023
MONAT INVESTMENT LTD v. ALL PERSON(S) IN OCCUPATION OF Part of The Remaining Portion of Lot No 591 in Mui Wo D.D. 4 No.16 Ma Po Tsuen, Mui Wo, Lantau Island AND ANOTHER
- Citation
- [2023] HKCA 479
- Court
- Court of Appeal
- Case number
- CACV448/2020
The Court of Appeal affirmed the judge's factual findings of successive family occupation sufficient to establish adverse possession of the brick house area and the adjacent paved area; held that the ex turpi causa maxim does not operate automatically to defeat adverse possession and that Hong Kong should apply the Patel 'range of factors' approach when illegality is alleged; applying that test the public interest favoured the squatter given decades of non‑enforcement, so the 2nd defendant's possessory declaration was upheld for the marked areas and the plaintiff's appeal was dismissed.