There are now some legal options. You are allowed a demountable/retractable rooftop awning which is no more than 5 sq meters and 2.5 m high. That's slightly higher than the stairwell hood and would stretch to about a quarter of the average rooftop. In addition, you can have a rooftop trellis of the same size. So now you have half your roof legally covered. You could also legally enclose the sides with canvas, plastic or bamboo blinds since they would not be considered permanent structures. You can also have a storage cabinet which is not over 2m high and 3 cubic meters in volume.

Most of the canopies built by local contractors are over the legal limits. I would also suggest that those corrugated iron canopies pose a serious risk in a strong typhoon.

http://www.bd.gov.hk/english/documents/pamphlet/VHWUBW_b.pdf

_________________
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

The article says that:

"Most villagers appear to have spurned the government's offer to register illegal structures in return for a temporary reprieve from enforcement measures.

By the middle of this month just 11,000 had signed up to a scheme under which they can keep their homes unchanged, subject to five-yearly checks".

So the government offered to let people register illegal structures and keep their homes unchanged, subject to five-yearly checks - that seems like a pretty decent offer from the government surely?

Of course the problem will come when they realize the level of work involved with demolition orders etc - then the government will simply revert to issuing significant fines that increase over time. Landlords will be forced to act with immediate effect and remove everything.

_________________
Thanks

IC

maybe the government wants to take all the roofs for themselves

_________________
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

It seems that the heat on illegal structures is over now and some landlords continue to build them right now. The photo submitted below from anon shows a brand-new glasshouse, enclosing half a rooftop, plus a completely glass-enclosed balcony, both just recently completed. It's not the only one recently built in North Lamma.

According to a news story a few days ago, out of the thousands of notices sent to owners of illegal structures, only 3 have complied and dismantled them so far. That's the number for ALL OF HK!

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

Does anyone know a T2 qualified engineer who can do a survey of a canopy for the registration of UBW scheme?

I think I heard it costs 2 or 3k to inspect, any info. would be much appreciated. Thanks.

Ask any of the property agents along Main Street for the contacts.

My former agent Stephen of Dollarful did the Unauthorized Building Works registration together with a (T2?) qualified engineer.
It cost the landlord about $3K/illegal structure, if I remember correctly.

But it's too late for the registration now, I think, as the "amnesty period" has expired almost a year ago, I think. See extensive discussion of this topic in this same forum section.

In the meantime, the building of brand-new illegal structures has resumed full force last summer in YSW, it seems...

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

I wonder if the government really has the stomach to take on the whole of the New Territories. I'd be inclined to hang fire and see how the battle evolves

Silly government, they should just demolish illegal structures of the foreigners, because they are not in the Kuk, and keep away from locals.

Thanks LG for the suggestions. I had already done the registration of the UBW before the first deadline in 2012. I had 6 months to give them the engineer’s report, but let it slid as new UBWs were popping up all over the place, so I figured it could wait. Finally they are now chasing for it and say “we may consider you are not interested in partaking in the scheme if we do not receive within 2 month’s”. So I might as well do it now I’ve confessed my sins. Also an opportunity to ask them WTF are they doing about all those new, 50%+ floor area and unregistered ones. A lawyer friend had actually advised me not to declare it in the first place (he hadn’t!) , so I am feeling a bit of an idiot at this point.

After announcing your UBW already, effectively admitting that you broke the law, you're now on the priority list by the Govt. to follow up to force you to remove it ASAP.

All you'll get after declaring is a kind of informal, non-confirmed amnesty for a number of years. Your lawyer friend might have been right.
But if you don't declare you'll become a top priority for enforcement right away, I'd guess. You are now one of the easy, low-hanging fruits for the Govt. to show that they're doing "something" about enforcing these laws. I'd advise to finish the declaration to get the "amnesty", no way back now, I think. My former landlord declared his two rooftop UBWs.

But the estimated 1 million+ UBWs all over HK, including all the new ones being built right now in the New Territories and Outlying Islands, will probably be safe for many years or decades, probably till the buildings will come down someday.

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

or, maybe I can take it down, take a photo for them & tell its removed and put it back

A photo will probably not be sufficient for the Lands Dept.
You might need to hire a T2-qualified engineer and submit the paperwork to prove the removal, probably about the same effort as declaring the UBW.

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

Sad to say that once you are on their radar they don't let you slip off. The come to check we have not moved our garden railings every three years or so - regardless of the fact that if we DID try to extend the garden, we'd be down the mountain! Also they send another bunch of photographers a week or so later to make sure we haven't built any illegal extensions...... (different section of the same department with obviously different duties - one's railings, one is structures) They come in a gang every time, apparently because (I was told this) they might be confronted with a dog! Heaven help them. It's a nice outing I suppose.

If we had never applied to regularise the garden we could probably have got away with not paying for it anyway. So take warning folks. Don't ask the govt to interfere and hope they don't! As said above, they use little people like us to say they are taking action when in fact most of the bigger culprits are ignored. It's easier to ignore them than take steps to correct the more obvious abuses. Yes, I am venting. Sorry.

An almost new, completely enclosed 3/F flat I noticed the other day.
The heat from Lands Dept. on UBWs last year is truly off now and the building boom continues, not just in YSW.

One new village house close to us will be finished soon...
and another brand-new, just completed village house is up for rental now across the street...
and just outside our home the jungle has just been cleared for another village house to go up in the next few months...
and the noise from a downstairs renovation-in-progress is deafening while I'm typing these words...

and we live in Pak Kok!

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.