Hong Kong Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Partition vs sale

Legal area

Court

15 Sept 2022

KONEW CAPITAL INTERNATIONAL LTD v. WONG LIK HOI AND OTHERS

Citation

[2022] HKDC 883
Court

District Court
Case number

DCMP4372/2021

Plaintiff complied with statutory and procedural requirements including s18 MLO and relevant District Court rules; the 1st defendant defaulted under the loan and mortgage which entitles the mortgagee to a money judgment, possession and sale; partition is impracticable for a domestic flat and discretionary factors favour sale; accordingly judgment for the sums claimed, possession, sale at a specified minimum price, appointment to conduct sale and allocation of proceeds and costs were ordered.
24 Jul 2018

HAPPY MORTGAGE SERVICES LTD v. HO YIN SANG AND ANOTHER

Citation

[2018] HKCFI 1919
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMP1736/2017

The court was satisfied on the affidavit evidence that the plaintiff had made adequate attempts at service and that partition of the land was prima facie impractical or uncertain given the Small Village Type House Development context and potential unauthorised structures, and because no interested persons opposed the application, the court granted the order for sale.
17 Oct 2017

CHAN KIT MAN v. KWAN LAI HUNG

Citation

CHAN KIT MAN v. KWAN LAI HUNG
Court

District Court
Case number

DCMP2766/2016

An order for sale under s6 was justified because physical and regulatory constraints made partition impracticable, the plaintiff made reasonable efforts to notify and locate the absent defendant, the defendant offered no evidence of hardship or opposition, and sale would not prejudice the defendant who remains entitled to half of the sale proceeds.
18 Mar 2016

LAW SHU KEUNG STEPHEN t/a EXCEL FINANCE CO v. NG MING AND ANOTHER

Citation

LAW SHU KEUNG STEPHEN t/a EXCEL FINANCE CO v. NG MING AND ANOTHER
Court

District Court
Case number

DCMP3032/2014

The court held that the plaintiff, as legal chargee of the 1st defendant's half share and having waived untaxed costs so that the judgment is liquidated, qualified as a person interested under s 3(1) Partition Ordinance and was entitled to apply for sale under s 6; partition was impracticable given the nature of the unit and absence of substantive opposition or evidence of hardship, therefore an order for sale was warranted with specified terms, and costs were assessed on a nisi basis at HK$55,700.
6 Jan 2005

WONG CHUN KEI JOHNNY AND OTHERS v. POON VAI CHING AND OTHERS

Citation

WONG CHUN KEI JOHNNY AND OTHERS v. POON VAI CHING AND OTHERS
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMP4322/2002

Although sale would produce higher pecuniary returns for plaintiffs, the court must balance pecuniary benefit against objective detriment to co-owners; where co-owners can unshackle themselves by individual alienation and where forced sale would cause very great hardship (notably eviction of occupying owners with no other home), the court should exercise s2(c) power to refuse to make any order. On these facts the hardship to occupying defendants outweighed the pecuniary advantage to plaintiffs, so the summons was dismissed and no order for sale made.
26 Sept 1992

GOLDEN BAY INVESTMENT LTD AND ANOTHER v. WALLY TOWER INVESTMENT LTD AND ANOTHER

Citation

GOLDEN BAY INVESTMENT LTD AND ANOTHER v. WALLY TOWER INVESTMENT LTD AND ANOTHER
Court

Court of First Instance
Case number

HCMP555/1992

Partition was impracticable for each of the lots but the Court has no power under the Partition Ordinance to order the four distinct properties to be sold as a single lot; accordingly the Court ordered sale by public auction of Nos.26 and 32 Kam Fong Street only, refused orders for sale of Nos.28 and 30, refused to make any order under s6(3) compelling plaintiffs to be bought out, and held that demolition costs paid by the plaintiffs cannot be deducted from sale proceeds.

Hong Kong Case Law

KONEW CAPITAL INTERNATIONAL LTD v. WONG LIK HOI AND OTHERS

HAPPY MORTGAGE SERVICES LTD v. HO YIN SANG AND ANOTHER

CHAN KIT MAN v. KWAN LAI HUNG

LAW SHU KEUNG STEPHEN t/a EXCEL FINANCE CO v. NG MING AND ANOTHER

WONG CHUN KEI JOHNNY AND OTHERS v. POON VAI CHING AND OTHERS

GOLDEN BAY INVESTMENT LTD AND ANOTHER v. WALLY TOWER INVESTMENT LTD AND ANOTHER