f. Incorporated Owners

f. Incorporated Owners 

The Incorporated Owners are a separate legal entity from the individual owners of the building. They may sue and be sued in their own names. Once the Incorporated Owners are formed, section 16 of the Building Management Ordinance provides that rights, powers, duties and liabilities in relation to the common parts are generally exercised and performed by the Incorporated Owners, to the exclusion of individual owners. Consequently, any legal proceedings relating to common parts should be pursued by or against the Incorporated Owners as the sole representative of the co-owners. 

Under section 18 of the Building Management Ordinance, the Incorporated Owners have a statutory duty to maintain the common parts of the building and to keep them in proper repair. For more information, please refer to “Breach of the Deed of Mutual Covenant and the Building Management Ordinance”. 

If the water seepage originates from the common parts of the building and is caused by a failure to maintain or repair those common parts, the Incorporated Owners will usually be the proper defendant and will be responsible for the loss and damage suffered by the affected flat owner. For information on common parts, please refer to “Sources of water seepage”.