Apr 19, 2020 | Can Public Area Within The Building Be Possessed By Adverse Possession?
Hong Kong’s land is expensive and the residential area is not big enough.
Sometimes, the resident will occupy other places. This practice is common.
These cases are everywhere when it comes to old multi-storey residential building. For example, a minor situation will be the owner put their shoes or other stuff in front of their own units for a long time. While for a severe case, the public corridor in front of their units will be barred by some owners for their own uses, which thus excludes people from entering.
The times flies, after 20 years, whether it will be possible for those owners to claim the ownership of those occupied public areas by adverse possession?
With reference to the current law, it is not easy to claim for adverse possession given to 2 points as follows:
- Since the purchase of the unit, the new owner has inherited the last owner’s obligation, which means that the new owner’s rights are subject to the Deed of Mutual Covenant (“DMC”). As such, the public area cannot be occupied.
- From the perspective of jurisprudence, the public area of a building is a place commonly shared by all the owners. Thus, theoretically, you cannot occupy and possess your own place. As such, it loses the basis of adverse possession.
