Weekly review: 17 – 21 June 2013

Deed of Mutual Covenant: incorporated owners; unauthorised structures

Incorporated owners are not liable to pay for the cost of replacing unauthorised structures that they have removed for some legitimate purpose (Lee Din Chun v Beverly Heights (IO))

Conveyancing: good title: encumbrance

‘In considering if a risk of litigation may constitute an encumbrance, the court will ask : are the facts and circumstances of the case so compelling to the mind of the court that the court concludes beyond reasonable doubt that the purchaser will not be at risk of a successful assertion against him of the encumbrance.’ (Ho Ching Group Ltd v Tsang Pui Lin [12] J Poon J).

Easements: prescription: implied easements following renewal and extension of Government leases

An easement can be acquired by prescription where the use has been for long enough and so on where the use was ‘on a reasonably regular basis’. Easements can be implied into the renewals and extensions of all Government leases in the New Territories in 1973 and 1999 on the basis of necessity, CPO s.16 and Wheeldon v Burrows where the relevant conditions are satisfied (Cheung Yuk Ying v Lo Koon Fuk)

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