In Wide Power Corp Ltd v Manhattan Court (IO) ([2015] 4 HKLRD 480, CFI) the incorporated owners of a building sought an injunction requiring an owner to remove unauthorised building works carried out in breach of the DMC. They registered the claim as a lis pendens. The owner successfully argued that the counterclaim did not relate to land or any interest or charge on land and so did not fall within the definition of a lis pendens in section 1A of the Land Registration Ordinance. A lis pendens must involve a claim to a proprietary interest or right in real property (Louis Chan J. at [76]). Here, the claim was an in personam claim against the owner. If the owner were to sell the property, the new owner would not be affected by the proceedings against the former owner. He would, of course, be liable under the terms of the DMC but this would involve a fresh claim against the new owner.
Michael Lower
