In Top Faith Property Ltd v Wong Ben ([2022] HKCA 783) Top Faith Property Ltd (‘the buyer’) entered into a Provisional Sale and Purchase Agreement to buy the entire issued share capital of Hero Wealth Corporation Ltd for HK$250 million. Hero Wealth was the vehicle for the ownership of office units in the Lippo Centre.
Pre-contract, the buyer made an inquiry as to the ‘saleable area’ of the office units. The shareholders of Hero Wealth (‘the sellers’) provided a plan stating that the saleable area was 758.46 square metres. This was untrue and the buyer relied on misrepresentation to rescind the contract.
The buyer succeeded at first instance. The sellers appealed. They argued that the statement was true. There was no standard definition of ‘usable area’ and the architect who prepared the plan took a reasonable approach to calculating the usable area.
The 1999 Code of Measuring Practice of the Hong Kong Institute of Surveyors (‘HKIS’) did incorporate a definition of ‘saleable area’. The representation was false if this definition were applied.
However, the sellers argued that this did not enjoy any special status. The architect who prepared the plan was not bound by it and chose, instead, to use the definition of ‘usable floor space’ in the Building (Planning) Regulations (Cap 123F).
The Court of Appeal said that when interpreting a representation, ‘the proper approach is an objective one that focuses on what the words and conduct constituting the Representation would in the relevant context have conveyed to a reasonable person in the position and with the characteristics of the plaintiff’ ([24]).
The question was as to the common understanding of reasonable vendors, purchasers and estate agents) [25]).
The HKIS code was the only available professional guide as to the meaning of the term at the relevant time and was generally accepted by the market ([28]).
Thus, the representation was ‘indisputably false’ and the appeal failed.
Michael Lower