DCCJ 5032/2019

[2024] HKDC 1337

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF THE

HONG KONG SPECIAL ADMINISTRATIVE REGION

CIVIL ACTION 5032 OF 2019

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JUDGMENT

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Introduction

1. This is a trial of the Plaintiff (" P ")'s claim for adverse possession of part of Lot 1395 in DD 112, Yuen Long (" Lot 1395 "). The disputed part of the subject lot (" the Disputed Land ") is shown in pink in the plan under Appendix 2 to the Amended Defence and Counterclaim (" AD&CC "), reproduced as Annex 1 to this Judgment (" Annex 1 plan ").

2. Lot 1395 was previously owned by P's twin brother, the late Suen Wing Ping (“ SWP ”). After SWP passed away in 2010, his two children, namely the Defendants (" Ds "), Mr Suen Chun Yu (" Chun Yu ") and his elder sister Suen Sze Kei Jess (" Jess ") became the executors of their late father's estate and the title of the land was vested in them since then [1] .

3. P has been the owner of Lot 1394 in DD112 (" Lot 1394 "), adjoining to Lot 1395.

Key landscape features

4. There has been a long rectangular structure [2] situated on Lot 1395 when one takes an aerial view of it, which in fact comprises of two separate structures. P lays no claim on the front structure (" the Front Structure "), but claiming adverse possession of the rear structure (i.e. as represented by such part of the long rectangular shape as coloured pink in the Annex 1 plan) (" the Rear Structure "). Immediately next to the eastern end of the Front Structure is a 1-storey house (i.e. the one marked as "House 2" on the Annex 1 plan) (" the 1395 House "), which likewise forms no part of P's claim.

5. Apart from the Rear Structure, the rest of the Disputed Land had been used mostly as farmland for planting vegetables in the earlier history of the subject land, and in more recent years for planting some fruit trees. There is a narrow strip of land at the south of both the Front Structure and the Rear Structure, serving as an alley leading to the farmland at the rear portion of the Disputed Land (" the alley ").

6. According to P:

(1) in around 1985, he erected an iron wire mesh fence (' the Fence ") together with a gate (" the Gate ") which was locked by him at all times, enclosing the Disputed Land as well as part of Lot 1394. The Fence was demarcated in blue on a plan attached to the Amended Reply and Defence to Counterclaim ("