Tsing Yi residents take step closer to setting up corporation to tackle disputed renovation fee
Owners' corporation will be set up to tackle disputed renovation fee on Tsing Yi homes
Residents of a Tsing Yi private housing estate, faced with a disputed HK$160 million renovation contract, have moved a step closer to invoking a law to set up an owners' corporation to protect themselves.
Yesterday, the Lands Tribunal ordered a representative of the residents of Mayfair Gardens to set up a management committee to prepare for the establishment of the corporation.
It is the first time that residents of a housing estate have sought to form a corporation under section four of the Building Management Ordinance - which requires the endorsement of owners holding at least 10 per cent of the shares in aggregate. The calculation of shares is based on the floor area of each flat.
The tribunal heard the 690 applicants had garnered the support of 10.4 per cent of the 65,000 shares of the estate.
If a corporation is formed under two other sections of the ordinance, it must meet the threshold of 20 per cent to 30 per cent of the shares in aggregate.
Barrister Jeffrey Tam Chun-kit, representing the 690 applicants, said some residents had tried to form a corporation under sections 3 and 3(A) before, but in vain.
Kwai Tsing district councillor Andrew Wan Siu-kin, who is helping the residents with the legal proceedings, said outside court that they needed to proceed under section four because of the unique composition of ownership of the estate.
About 29 per cent of shares in Mayfair Gardens are owned by the residents, 33 per cent by the government and 38 per cent by the estate's developer.
Wan said it was the only case he had ever handled that had such a unique ownership composition.
The tribunal's presiding officer, Judge Wong King-wah, appointed programmer Lai Chi-wai, who has lived on the estate since 2013, to convene the management committee "with a view to incorporating an owners' corporation".
The committee will have to vote for the establishment of the corporation.
Wong said: "It is a trend that ensures every flat owner has discretion over their properties."
Outside court, resident Jolie Ho said they wished to form the corporation to protect their interests in future.
Last August, it was reported that owners at Mayfair Gardens faced intimidation when they tried to stop the awarding of a HK$160 million contract for renovation work on their 30-year-old residential estate.
