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SCMP Reporter

A  client is suing an estate agency for allegedly failing to tell her  the body of an elderly woman - the mother of a  celebrity - had gone  undiscovered for days in the bedroom of a flat she was going to buy.
Ho Chow-lan is demanding  Centaline Property Agency  and its  agent Lucy Luk Wing-kuen return her deposit of HK$176,640 and legal fees of HK$9,400 incurred in halting the transaction.
The writ says  Ms Ho had planned to buy a flat in Beverley Heights at 56 Cloudview Road, North Point, for HK$5,888,000.
On July 31, Ms Ho entered into a provisional agreement with Centaline and paid the initial deposit.
According to the writ, the agency and the agent concealed the fact that the body had lain undiscovered in a bedroom for a few days before relatives found it.
Ms Ho accuses them of deliberately withholding the information as they knew she would refuse to buy the flat if she had known.
She claims Centaline and the agent had failed to comply with the agents' code of ethics or meet the prescribed standard in making a frank and full disclosure of the facts.
A letter claiming back the  deposit and refusing to pay the commission was sent through her solicitor on August 15, the writ says.
Ms Ho is also seeking two court declarations. One is that the agency is not entitled to the commission paid in  the sale and purchase agreement. The other is Ms Ho is not required to pay stamp duty of HK$176,640.



Agency sued over flat's grim history