A property owner has been fined a total of HK$255,800 for persistently failing to comply with a removal order for unauthorised building works at a detached house in Tai Lam.

The case was heard at the Tuen Mun Magistrates' Courts on Friday, the Buildings Department said on Tuesday.

Part of the fine, HK$155,880, was for the number of days the offence continued.

The unauthorised works included an illegal platform of about 122 square metres on a slope adjoining an approved garden, a floor slab erected over a void adjacent to the dining room, removal of parts of external walls and the construction of unauthorised structures extending floors at different levels, with a total floor area of about 57 square metres.

As the works were carried out without prior approval, a removal order was served.

The owner failed to comply and has been prosecuted seven times previously, with fines and a four-month prison sentence suspended for two years.

"The Buildings Department will continue to take stringent enforcement action and instigate prosecutions against owners again if they persist in not complying with removal orders, so as to ensure building and public safety," a spokesman of the Buildings Department said in a statement.

Under the Buildings Ordinance, failure to comply with a removal order without reasonable excuse carries a maximum penalty of a HK$200,000 fine and one year's imprisonment, plus a daily fine of up to HK$20,000.



Edited by Tony Sabine