In May, the Lands Department issued one consent for the sale of 381 residential units in a Wan Chai development, expected to be completed in 2007. It also issued a consent to assign involving 1,054 residential units.

At the end of May, 12 applications for consent to sell residential units, and seven applications for consent to sell commercial developments, were pending approval. 

The applications for consent to sell residential units involve 6,621 units. Among them, three applications involving 1,269 units are expected to be completed in 2006. Seven applications, involving 2,226 units, are to be ready in 2007 and the remaining two applications, involving 3,126 units, are expected to be finished in 2008.

Two applications for consent to assign involving 1,602 residential units are pending approval.

Up-to-date information on consents to sell units in uncompleted residential or commercial developments issued for the last six months and cases pending approval as at the end of May 2006 are available by dialling the Legal Advisory & Conveyancing Office's hotline, 2147 5475, or on the Lands Department website.

The names of the developer, its solicitors, authorised person and firm, the main superstructure contractor, and, where applicable, the developer's parent company, the mortgagee bank, the undertaking bank and the financier in respect of individual developments are also available in reports obtainable through hotline's or website's fax-on-demand facilities. Details are also contained in individual developments' sales brochures, printed advertisements and websites.

Buyers should study details carefully

Would-be buyers are advised to carefully study a development's details and sale procedures, through information available from the developmer's advertisements, sales brochures and price lists before making a deposit for a purchase.

A development's sales brochure also contains the main points of the Deed of Mutual Covenant, including the definition of common areas, terms of the manager's appointment, the basis of calculating management fees, amounts of any deposit and other relevant details. Buyers should also note that developers may hold sales of units by private sale direct with purchasers, for which, under the consent scheme, price lists are not required to be produced.