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demolition of wall btw two flats

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  1. #11

    Join Date
    Nov 2012
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    261

    Why go through through all this trouble of purchasing two flats and renovating the shit out of both of them, when you could just sell the one your in now and buy a bigger place?

    Even if the wall isn't structural, what do you do with two kitchens? And wouldn't it make for a weird layout? I know how the units in my building are set up and if I did what you are looking to do my flat would be really awkward.

    jrkob, shri, Fiona in HKG and 1 others like this.

  2. #12

    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    12

    Good questions Skierx -- the way ours is laid out, yes combining the two living rooms you would have two hallways of rooms, and there would be a spare kitchen. We would probably convert the kitchen into another room like a study room, or just open up those walls too (for sure it's not structural, the wall is super thin).

    We paid a (relatively) low price for our current flat and the next door would be at the current market price, but the blended average is still lower priced than buying a flat that is double sized (and now paying the fees and taxes for selling and buying at higher transaction cost). Plus I suppose we are also guilty of having a bit of inertia to not move out due to laziness and also we really like our little community here.

    As for less liquidity mentioned by jrkob, that is a good point, I hadn't thought of that specifically, we would plan to live here for another decade then, if we do this. But it's a very fair point to consider, we would probably be the "biggest" unit in the estate and the demand would be limited, few would expect a unit this size here. If this place was full of duplex units then it could be expected to have more deal flow in this size...

    Thanks for all the thoughts! More for me to think about...


  3. #13

    Join Date
    Feb 2009
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    8,280

    Having 2 front doors probably side by side would annoy me.

    Don't forget you would have to pay two sets of government rates and taxes, building management fees, etc every quarter.

    iwthyh likes this.

  4. #14

    Join Date
    May 2009
    Posts
    6,180
    Original Post Deleted
    Depends. If you don't do a complete modification and just make a 2x2m opening (door, without actual doors), you could simple close it with bricks when you move out. It's a weekend job.

    For a simple opening between 2 flats I would simply do it.
    shri, iwthyh and chuckster007 like this.

  5. #15

    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Wanchai
    Posts
    5,063

    I used to live in a flatshare of flat that had previously been two.

    It was also on the top floor of the building, not sure how it looked before but we only had one kitchen (open plan)

    iwthyh likes this.

  6. #16

    Join Date
    May 2015
    Posts
    451

    I assume the whole building would collapse if you remove a structural​ wall on a low floor. That would be... bad.

    iwthyh likes this.

  7. #17

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Manchester, UK
    Posts
    7,790
    Quote Originally Posted by monomono:
    I assume the whole building would collapse if you remove a structural​ wall on a low floor. That would be... bad.
    Nothing bad has happened yet in HK so its ok la. some peoples mentality LOL
    iwthyh likes this.

  8. #18

    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Posts
    12

    Hi all, I just applied and got access to a bunch of drawings for my complex on the Building Dept website, they have an online system called BRAVO. It costs under 50hkd per file (The one I got has hundreds of pages). So those who may care to do some own research, check it out. It will require sifting through tons of irrelevant parts to get to something meaningful. I assume this is a small part of the work of the AP.

    Now to find an architect who can interpret what is not common sense in the drawings...

    jrkob and Drunken Master like this.