Screwed by my Landlord

[hktraveller]

You see, a lot of those so call "studio" in old apartments are actually a small unit divided from an actual flat. A lot of the owner divided a typical 600' flat into 2/3 flats and installed individual toilet and water tap and claimed it is an individual flat. If you do a land search, you simply cannot find your unit as it is supposed to be part of a bigger unit.

That flat is not divided. A friend of mine wanted to buy it to have a place to party.

[aliendavid1]

Original Post Deleted

so... Hong Kong is not the same as Canada i take it.

[hktraveller]

Original Post Deleted

I believe the sense of decency there is heavily supported by the law.

[ALAU]

Original Post Deleted

Woah - TigerSun, this quick jump to conclusion and a bit prejudicial isn't it? I am a landlord (and a tenant too) and I would be rather offended if that is said of me - not only do I give the true info on my apartments on offer, I actually TELL my prospective tenants what else there is on offer out there by others, in different districts and in different buildings, to the best of my knowledge. If I believe in the quality of my products (i.e. the apartments), and I find no reason to lie. And I think this would be the case for a lot of landlords, although not all.

If an agent grossly inflates the size of the apartment in the advertising, he/she should be reported to the Estate Agents Authority. Plain and simple. If an agent of mine does that for my apartment, I would slag him off.

Also, gross area could be easily found on a land search, which the agent should have provided for. If you are doing a direct rental, you could log onto the government land search site to do the search yourself, it costs you something like HKD22 I think. A good landlord would have done it for you (but is not a must).

You can also obtain a ratings and valuation department printout from the agent, which shows both the gross area and the net area.

You won't get this info on a sub-divided flat or serviced apartments which has split the original apartments though.

[MovingIn07]

I also think there is a culture of deception but unfortunately it's so prevalent that it's meaningless PROVIDED you are a local/expat been here for a while. We all know the sizes are "wrong"; the photo's are photoshopped etc etc. It's just 'how it's done'. Hard to change when everyone EXPECTS it! The 'good' and 'honest' landlords lose out because nobody believes them.

[ALAU]

But everyone has to do it and it is the adopted way. I mean, I have an apartment to let which is 550 square feet gross, 465 feet net. I WILL list it as 550 sqf (and I will put net area 85%, as it is actually a high net area in my case). If I DONT put 550 sqf and put 465 sqf but everyone else does, where does that leave me? You wont be comparing like with like.

That is unless the government changes the rules to ONLY list net area in both sales and rental.

[Geoff]

Alau has it spot on - it is virtually impossible for a landlord to buck market practise. The government could easily pass some legislation forcing all advertisments to carry the gross and net figures in equal size font... that would be the quickest way to fix this problem once and for all.

[foxtrot666]

***Sales of "inflated flats***
Hi everybody!
We are a group of CUHK graduate law student. We are currently investigating the phenomenon of "inflated flats" in Hong Kong. We aim to discover the Hong Kong citizen's level of awareness towards this phenomenon, and to learn about their opinion about the status quo.

English: Inflated Flats: A Comprehensive study of the social impact and an examination on the need for reform



***「發水樓」情況問卷調查 ***
本法律研究學院學生現正就「發水樓 的情況進行調查，目的是希望了解香 市民對「發水樓」的認識, 以及探討市民對政府管制「發水樓」 滿意程度。

(「發水樓」可稱為"縮水樓" i.e.你買1000呎既樓，實際上實用面積只 得700呎。無論你對「發水樓」情況有 有認識也好，都歡迎大家來填寫這份 卷來反應我們對政府的意見!!!多謝!!)

中文: 「發水樓」情況問卷調查