Read the full judgment text of LDCS 4000/2013 on BabelCite. This Lands Tribunal judgment was delivered on 31 October 2016 before His Honour Judge KW WONG, Presiding Officer and Mr Lawrence PANG, Member.
Land compulsory sale – costs – determination on costs following grant of order for sale of undivided shares in Kai Tak Mansion under the Land (Compulsory Sale for Redevelopment) Ordinance, Cap 545 – compensation approach under Good Faith Properties Ltd v Cibean Development Co Ltd – section 12(1) of Lands Tribunal Ordinance, Cap 17 – 16-day trial resulted in sale order with costs order nisi in favour of Respondents except R47 – Applicants sought to vary costs order nisi – whether twin-starting point proposition applies such that unsuccessful minority claimant should automatically bear costs of acquiring party – Mr Mok's strict cut-off date of 18 February 2015 rejected – English Land Compensation Act 1961 s.4(1)(a) compared with Hong Kong LCSRO – absence of automatic cost shifting rule in LCSRO – tribunal retains discretion on costs – whether rejection of February open offer of 18 February 2015 was reasonable – February offer held to be generous offer beating tribunal's final assessment – Wong Yik Po v Director of Lands and The Salaverry considered on adequacy of time to consider offer – day before trial (1 March 2015) as appropriate cut-off date – 60% of Applicants' costs from 2 March 2015 to be borne by said 5 Respondents – deliberate embrace of exaggerated EUV – Mr Siu's CPS valuations found to be about 70% above tribunal's assessment – unusual investment method based on rental incomes in breach of lease conditions – Ms Sat's hope value rejected as not based on established professional valuation standards – probability of success below 50% not engaging hope value under professional standards – Chinachem Charitable Foundation v Chan Chun Chuen cited on expert independence – AP and TP consultant reports by R40 not relied upon – orchestrated litigation tactics – pre- and post-application sales of CPSs at unusually high prices by R22 to related parties – mortgage of 18 CPSs for US$7 million loan with insufficient security – concerted exaggeration by related or concerted parties – multiple legal representations by related parties to isolate costs liabilities – Leung Chuk Yau t/a Tin Cheung Ginseng Medicine Hong v Director of Lands not accepted as authority for proposition that offeree entitled to costs up to date of lapsed offer – Purfleet Farms Ltd v Secretary of State for Transport, Local Government and the Regions considered – submission of case based on subsequent higher valuation rejected as encouraging litigation – market value as at particular date must already factor in rising potential – broad brush approach to costs assessment – costs to be taxed on District Court scale to reflect multiple representation by related parties – joint and several liability imposed on said 5 Rs – disallowance of Mr Siu's EUV costs and 50% of Ms Sat's RDV costs – final no order as to costs between Applicants and said 5 Rs on broad brush assessment – costs of costs variation application to be paid by said 5 Rs with R47 substituting for R22 on High Court scale with certificate for counsel – costs order nisi varied accordingly
Legal issues: Twin-starting point proposition in compensation approach · Reasonableness of rejection of February open offer · Whether said 5 Respondents were related or concerted parties · Appropriate costs order on broad brush assessment
Outcome: The costs order nisi in favour of the said 5 Respondents with R47 taking over the interest of R22 was varied. On a broad brush assessment, no order as to costs was made between the Applicants and the said 5 Respondents for the Application. The said 5 Respondents (with R47 substituting for R22) were ordered to pay the Applicants' costs of the costs variation application on a joint and several liability basis, on High Court scale with certificate for counsel, to be taxed if not agreed. The costs order nisi in favour of the said 5 Rs is therefore varied accordingly.
Cited by 16 cases · Cites 3 cases