Hong Kong buyer sues after Tsim Sha Tsui shop fails to measure up
Woman’s mother allegedly led to sign for mall space that was half the size agents said it was, court hears
A woman is suing Midland Realty International for more than HK$4 million in damages for misrepresentation after finding a shop she bought at a Tsim Sha Tsui mall was half the size she was told.
Prudy Li Pui-yuk on Friday filed a writ at High Court claiming that her mother, Li Siu-yat, was led to sign for a second-floor shop at The Capital, a shopping mall connected to Park Hotel Hong Kong in Tsim Sha Tsui.
Li at the time was acting on behalf of her daughter, who was a prospective property buyer.
She engaged Midland Realty International agents Hui Man-dick and Hui On-on on January 3, 2013, to discuss the sale and purchase of the shop.
The next day, Li proceeded to sign a set of provisional sale and purchase agreements to buy the shop for HK$4.066 million. The agreement stated the property’s saleable area was 76 square feet.
Later that day, the two agents called to inform her the agreement had been signed by the developer, and offered to deliver the paperwork to her residence.
There, Li was presented with another set of the agreement’s first page, with certain information rewritten and the number ‘76’ written in a distorted form.