The girl next door's a hooker

In 1967 Daniel To Yau-on thought he made the right move when he settled his family in the heart of Causeway Bay, close to shops, restaurants and public transport. Little did he realise his dream would come to grief because of others in his building.

On his floor and elsewhere in Hong Kong Mansion, he discovered prostitutes operating in a handful of one-woman brothels that, while legal, irked many residents. Though the women did not disturb anyone, their constant stream of customers frightened tenants and posed a nuisance to those keeping normal hours.

When Mr To discovered the brothels in 1994, he alerted the police and requested checks on the premises. As chairman of Hong Kong Mansion's Owners' Incorporation, he also discussed the problem at various meetings with government representatives.

Uneasy about the women's possible links to triads and annoyed by clients who often rang the wrong doorbell, Mr To and other residents of Hong Kong Mansion also asked the building's watchmen to check the identities of suspicious guests entering the building.

'The only way you can drive the women away is by posing a nuisance to their customers,' said Mr To, who also sits on the Wan Chai District Fight Crime Committee.

'Everyone wants to preserve a certain degree of dignity; exposing a client's identity may discourage others from coming here to visit prostitutes.' The tactics worked - to a certain degree. By early last year, there were three one-woman brothels left in his building. Two vacated the premises in the following months but to Mr To's fury, one remained behind - in an apartment next door - and another moved into a pad on a different floor.