A Court of Appeal judge has cast doubt on the decisions of the Lands Tribunal to issue compulsory sale orders in previous cases.
In a recent judgment handed down by the Court of Appeal, the judge said a concept that the tribunal formulated to rule that a developer can force a minority owner to sell his property after acquiring the majority of a building's ownership 'did not feature' in the law.
The judgment comes two months after the Legislative Council passed a notice that lowered, from 90 per cent to 80 per cent, the threshold of ownership in a building older than 50 years at which a developer can force the compulsory sale of the remaining properties in the building.
The notice was passed with the backing of functional constituencies but opposed by the pan-democratic camp, which said the law failed to protect private property rights.
In deciding sale orders in at least five past cases, the tribunal used its 'economic lifespan test': if the repair cost of the building exceeds the enhancement in market value brought by the work, the tribunal considers redevelopment justified.
But Court of Appeal Justice Doreen Le Pichon said this reasoning, which was repeatedly cited by government officials when urging lawmakers' earlier this year to lower the threshold, might be an error of law.
'I have some reservations as to their correctness [of the economic lifespan tests]. Admittedly, this is no more than a preliminary view ... but it would not be inappropriate to highlight the fact that the concept of economic lifespan does not feature in the ordinance,' Le Pichon wrote in the judgment.