Estate may change rules on pets in light of court ruling

The owners of a Mei Foo apartment complex might change the rules on keeping pets after a judge ruled they could not prevent residents from having dogs in their flats.

The chairman of the incorporated owners group, Wong Yuet-kwun, said they would meet soon to study the judgment and decide their next step.

'Options such as filing an appeal or making changes to the Deed of Mutual Covenant or the house rules are all on our agenda,' Mr Wong said.

On Tuesday, Tsang Chi-ming was awarded HK$8,000 in damages stemming from allegations that security guards at his Mei Foo Sun Chuen Stage VII building harassed his family so they would get rid of a beloved golden retriever.

The District Court ruled that the estate could not prevent residents from keeping dogs in their flats.

Since the legal dispute erupted in 2005, Mr Tsang has left the flat he occupied for 20 years on the estate.

There are eight incorporated owners groups in Mei Foo Sun Chuen, independent of each other and with their own administrative systems. The deed of mutual covenant for Stages I to VII in Mei Foo Sun Chuen does not clearly include a ban on dogs, but the estate management company, Broadway-Nassau Investments, issued a guideline forbidding residents from keeping dogs after receiving numerous complaints about noise and hygiene problems.