But many are too old to afford the $200,000 per flat required
Owners of flats in a 30-year-old building involved in a lethal accident 10 years ago have to repay the landlord $23 million in compensation and costs it has already paid.
But the owners of 20 to 30 of the building's 90 flats are over 60 and unable to pay, according to a district councillor. And some say they bought their flats after the fatal accident and should not be liable.
Mr Justice Aarif Barma yesterday ordered the winding up of the Incorporated Owners of Albert House and ordered the owners to pay the debt.
The order, in the Court of First Instance, was in relation to the collapse of an illegal fish tank and 15-tonne canopy on the first floor that killed a newspaper vendor and injured eight people.
Wilson Yeung, lawyer for the landlord, Aberdeen Winner Investment Co Ltd, said each unit would have to pay about $200,000.
