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Nick Gentle

Estate's managers to weigh curb on convict
The management committee of a Hung Hom housing estate will this week consider banning a child molester from the clubhouse where he committed his crime.
Goodwell Property Management, which manages the Laguna Verde estate, has claimed in the past that it is powerless to stop the man returning to the scene of his crime.
Sarah Lau, property manager for Laguna Verde, confirmed the issue was on the agenda of Friday's regular meeting of the estate's owners' committee.
The committee appears to have taken up the issue after resident Ray Rudowski handed it legal advice which contradicted the estate manager's claim it could not act.
Yesterday marked the first anniversary of 55-year-old Yik Seal-hung's conviction on one count of indecent assault and another of committing an indecent act on a child under 16. His victim was 12 years old.
Yik was sentenced to 20 months in prison by District Court Judge Stanley Chan Kwong-chi.
With good behaviour, he will be eligible for release as early as April.
Goodwell,  a subsidiary of Cheung Kong (Holdings), said it had sought  legal advice on whether a property manager could  bar an owner from, or restrict their access to, the estate's clubhouse facilities.
'The answer is no,' was the written reply from Goodwell's lawyers, Chung & Kwan, Solicitors.  'Nothing in the [deed of mutual covenant] of the estate, nor the Building Management Ordinance, gives you any power to prohibit such owner from entering or using the clubhouse.'
But advice obtained by Mr Rudowski from solicitors Vidler & Co seems to contradict that view.
'The right of any owner to use the recreational facilities is not unlimited or absolute,' the firm said.
'Under the common law, each owner has a right to enjoy the common facilities of the estate with peace and quiet enjoyment. Anyone, including an owner, whose acts infringe upon ... the rights of others may be prohibited from using the common recreational facilities by the manager.'
The letter also points out that courts have the power to grant injunctions against certain parties using the facilities.
Mr Rudowski, who has been mounting a campaign to have Yik banned from the clubhouse upon his release, said he hoped the committee was going to seriously consider its position rather than waste more resources finding ways to wriggle out of its responsibility to the owners.
'I cannot think of anything more clear-cut in terms of defending an owner's right to quiet enjoyment than banning a convicted child molester from the communal swimming pool ... the place where he  committed the crime,' Mr Rudowski said.
He said Goodwell was hiding behind marketing people and 'legal mumbo jumbo' and trying to find excuses not to act.
'What they have been saying is fundamentally untrue and just wrong. It is wrong legally. It is wrong factually, and it is wrong morally.
'This is a ticking time bomb for Goodwell ... and I think the entire property management industry is  undermining its own credibility by failing to take a stance on this,' Mr Rudowski said.
Solicitor Michael Vidler,  whose firm prepared the advice for Mr Rudowski, said the argument was indicative of a wider problem with the property management industry in the city.
The mismatch between the resources of individual owners  and the companies, often offshoots of major conglomerates,  meant genuine concerns were sometimes swept aside.



Club child molester could be banned