Court can order a sale under the Partition Ordinance whether or not partition is feasible

The Court’s power to order a sale under the Partition Ordinance can be exercised whether or not a partition is physically feasible or practicable.

In Pun Jong-Sau v Poon Wong-Kong ([1980] HKLR 662, HC) the majority of the co-owners of a fairly old multi-storey building applied for an order for sale under the Partition Ordinance. Four co-owners (the defendants) argued against the making of such an order. Expert evidence showed that partition was physically but not economically feasible. The defendants argued that if the Court would not make an order for partition then it had no power to order a sale. Trainer J. rejected this. The aim of the Partition Ordinance was to give the Court the ability to respond as it saw fit and even to refuse to make an order. The Court could make an order for sale even when partition was not physically possible or practicable.