Ignorance of the law may be no excuse for those responsible for enforcing it, but the rules that determine whether a structure is illegal have become so complicated that even professionals find it difficult to tell whether alterations are acceptable.
In recent weeks, controversy has intensified this confusion even further, after senior officials, including Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying, were found to have illegal structures at their homes.
The discovery by the media of a trellis at Leung's home on The Peak led to lawmakers questioning his integrity, and to calls for him to resign. Secretary for Food and Health Dr Ko Wing-man has been accused of illegally removing a partition wall to merge two units into one, while Secretary for Education Eddie Ng Hak-kim has been accused of breaking the law after it was found that he had attached a drying rack to the wall of an apartment he had rented out. Neither minister had sought approvals for the works.
The intensifying focus on illegal structures has led to calls for an overhaul of the Buildings Ordinance - which has failed to keep up with the way we live since it was written half a century ago. In interviews with the South China Morning Post, building industry professionals have called for a review of rules and policies that have created traps for unwitting owners, particularly after the government discreetly tightened the enforcement of the rules in recent years.
The Buildings Department did not respond to the Post's request for comment, but some professionals were willing to discuss their doubts and concerns.
'It alarmed us when small alterations or installation of small devices that did not affect a building's safety were challenged by the media and the government,' said Vincent Ho Kui-yip, chairman of the building surveying division of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors. 'Has our system gone wrong?'
Ho said the recent media exposes of 'illegal structures' at the homes of Leung, Ng and Ko had gone beyond the spirit of the Buildings Ordinance, which had been intended to ensure only a building's structural safety and hygiene.