It is not disputable that most of the people desire a comfortable home. In Hong Kong, people spend big investments in acquiring units in private multi-storey buildings to be their comfortable homes would expect a quiet enjoyment of the same.
Also, many owners may not aware that when they purchase units in private multi-storey buildings, they also purchase the common parts of the same buildings. Therefore, owners are not only entitled to the exclusive possession, enjoyment and using of their units, but also jointly own, enjoy and use the common parts of the buildings with other owners of the same buildings. Despite many owners may not aware that they are jointly own common parts with the other owners, they enjoy and use the common parts and facilities of the same building with other owners on a daily basis.
In order to cultivate and encourage the harmonic living environment among all unit owners of private multi-storey buildings and resolve the disputes and building management matters that may arise, all owners, the manager and the developer of the same building are bound by the Deed of Mutual Covenant (“DMC”) that is the private contractual agreement setting out the rights, entitlement and obligations of the parties. In addition to the DMC, the Building Management Ordinance, Cap.344 (“BMO”) was enacted to provide the legal framework for the formation of the Owners’ Corporation to facilitate the better building management.
The major purpose of the respective application and enactment of the DMC and the BMO is to encourage the quiet enjoyment of the private properties of owners by setting out their obligations and responsibilities for the proper maintenance of their units so that no nuisance and/or damages would be resulted or caused to be resulted to other owners of the same building.
“Noise Nuisance” however, is one of the common nuisance problems found in private multi-storey buildings. The usual cases of noise nuisance problems are unusual daily activities noises of labours and the noises of the pets i.e. dogs and cats maintained by labours. And the deterioration of soundproofing of the floor slabs from the above or adjacent units is the other major and common cause of water seepage.
Noise nuisance problems not only cause tremendous annoyance and inconvenience to the affected owners and/or occupiers of other units, but also affect their daily living.
Pursuant to the relevant provisions of DMC and BMO, flat owners and the manager are responsible for the maintenance and repair the structure and/or facilities inside their flats and the common parts of the building respectively to avoid and/or fix noise nuisance problems properly. In such cases, the affected persons may be entitled to claim against the flat owner and the manager respectively for all loss and damage suffered as a result of such noise nuisance problems.
We understand the tremendous annoyance and disturbance may be caused to the affected flat owner as a result of noise nuisance problem. We also understand the considerate stress and hard time created to the owner of the flat originating the problem. Our team is well experienced in handling the claims and disputes representing the Plaintiffs and/or the Defendants and devoted to protect our clients’ best interests.