Landlord loses battle to save Shek O home

TIME appears to have run out for eight Shek O residents, ordered to leave an illegal, multi-million-dollar duplex by Friday so it can be torn down.

Landlord Daniel Yip Wai-lum said he had dodged previous eviction orders during his four-year feud with the Building Authority by launching every possible court action to stall or halt the demolition.

'But this time, from a legal point of view, it's really the end of the road,' Mr Yip said. 'I don't know what else we can do. We are trying to get in touch with legislators to see if they will help us.' The latest eviction threat came late last month after the High Court dismissed a tenant's bid for an injunction to keep the house intact.

The tenant has filed an appeal, but the authority has held firm on an eviction date of April 7. Mr Yip said he and his tenants were packing their belongings and searching for new homes.

A structural engineer, Mr Yip's headache began in 1987 when he returned to his ancestral village, bought an old home with his cousin and knocked it down.

Mr Yip then gave the authority a plan for a modern abode covering 100 per cent of his land. Shek O homes must not cover more than two thirds of their plots - a rule Mr Yip says many locals have ignored.

When his plan was rejected in October 1989, Mr Yip went ahead with the $2-million home anyway. The decision has cost him $1 million in legal fees alone.