A plain-language explanation of how Hong Kong law distinguishes unreasonable dismissal from unlawful dismissal under the Employment Ordinance.
How severance pay and long service payment work under Hong Kong's Employment Ordinance, including the 2025 abolition of MPF offsetting.
How Cap. 25 fixes the Labour Tribunal's jurisdiction by Schedule, how it interlocks with the Minor Employment Claims Adjudication Board and the Small Claims Tribunal, and the procedure from filing to enforcement.
A plain-language guide separating what a solicitor's letter can do from what the law does: which deadlines are statutory and which the sender simply chose, how limitation works under the Limitation Ordinance (Cap. 347), and the rules of court that govern a writ, default judgment and setting one aside.
Plain-language patterns from five real, verified judgments on Labour Tribunal appeals: contracts bind as written, waivers don't oust statutory claims, and appeals lie on law only. Our own summaries; not legal advice.
The statutory formula in Cap. 57 ss.31G and 31V, the Schedule 11 split for employees whose employment straddles the transition date, the Seventh Schedule ceiling, the offsetting rules in ss.31I and 31Y as modified, and the timing and offence provisions.
The employer's characterisation is the gate to everything else. What the Ordinance actually says, where the burden sits and on what evidence, and the transfer power that the Ordinance carries and the filing guide does not put in front of you.
A clause says you cannot work in the trade for a year after you leave. Which number is lawful? No Hong Kong statute sets one. What actually decides it, which court hears it, what it costs — and where the three numbers you have already found actually come from.
The Fund is paid out of a levy, not out of your employer's assets — so the company having nothing is not the end of the road, though nor is it the statutory test. What the gateway actually is, what the five heads and four ceilings are, where the preference actually ranks, and the one payment where taking the Fund's money puts your balance behind the Board.
A two-part guide to contractual year-end payments, pro-rata entitlement, Labour Tribunal and MECAB deadlines, employment references and personal-data access.
A practical bilingual guide to notice, payment in lieu, final payments, Immigration notification, permitted stay and changing employer after an FDH contract ends early.
The steps, grounds, and typical timeline for a divorce in Hong Kong under the Matrimonial Causes Ordinance — single petition and joint application explained.
How Hong Kong courts divide matrimonial property on divorce: the statutory factors, the yardstick of equality from LKW v DD, and how prenuptial agreements are treated.
How Hong Kong courts make decisions on child custody, care and control, access, and removal from Hong Kong — including the Hague Convention on child abduction.
Plain-language patterns from five real, verified judgments: the five-step framework, equal division as the yardstick, departures, and committal for unpaid maintenance. Our own summaries; not legal advice.
Real judgments on child maintenance: assessment by needs and means, married and unmarried routes, variation, and what happened when payments stopped. Our own summaries; not legal advice.
Real, verified judgments on Hong Kong's largest litigated divorces: the HK$1.68B trust case, needs under a prenup, appellate adjustments, and why departures from equality needed concrete reasons. Our own summaries; not legal advice.
Right by right: what the courts have decided, in the judgments' own words, and the position after the 2025 LegCo vote — court holdings and official statements only.
What s. 14 of Cap. 192 voids and what it leaves standing, the four kinds of paper a divorcing couple can end up holding, the three statutory thresholds for reopening, and the four clocks — remarriage and delay among them — that are not attached to the door most readers expect.
Hong Kong has no status of common-law spouse. What is actually available is a proprietary claim in equity — a common intention constructive trust, or a proprietary or promissory estoppel — and, where there has been a death, a claim for financial provision from the estate under Cap. 481. The two are not alternatives: they coexist, and they run on different procedure, priority and limitation.
A safety-first guide to Cap. 189 injunctions for spouses, relatives and same- or opposite-sex cohabitants in Hong Kong.
A plain-language guide to the Hong Kong residential conveyancing process and what role a solicitor plays at each stage — from Provisional Agreement to completion.
How residential and non-residential property stamp duty works in Hong Kong after 28 February 2024, when BSD and SSD were set to 0% rather than repealed — plus the 2025 band changes and the 6.5% top rate in force from 26 February 2026. The BSD and SSD rates stand under section 63A, which lets the Financial Secretary change them by notice in the Gazette.
Title investigation and mortgage deed work in Hong Kong, written from the Ordinances — the 15-year root of title under Cap. 219 s.13, the Second Schedule good-title and requisition clauses, the deeds registration priority rules in Cap. 128, the Deed of Mutual Covenant under Cap. 344 Part VIA, the mortgagee's statutory powers under Cap. 219 Part V and the Fourth Schedule, and lease extension under Cap. 150 and Cap. 648.
The article separates a defect in title from a defect in the property: Cap. 219 Second Schedule Part A clause 3, Cap. 123 section 14(2)(a), the discretionary registration in section 24(2C), the way section 24(4A) moves the demolition cost to whoever owns the property when the work is finished, where section 24AA and section 72 of Cap. 658 sit for subdivided units, and why the deeds-registration system in Cap. 128 still makes a buyer trace fifteen years of title (the title-registration system in Cap. 585 is enacted but not commenced, and its commencement is a power rather than a date). On the unauthorised-structure side it sets out two Court of Appeal judgments, Spark Rich (China) Ltd v Valrose Ltd, CACV 249/1998, and Lucky Dragon Corporation Ltd v Speedy Vantage Ltd, CACV 79/2009, whose holdings and test are set out in section 1.
A practical guide to performing mortgages, contractual defaults, Order 88 possession proceedings, mortgagee sales and shortfalls in Hong Kong.
The rights of a person arrested in Hong Kong, each traced to the provision it comes from — and which of them are statute, which are constitutional guarantees, and which are only administrative practice.
Bail in Hong Kong traced to the provisions that create it — the duty to admit to bail, the grounds for refusing it, the conditions that may be imposed, and the routes to review.
The ICAC and the SFC operate under different Ordinances with different powers and different safeguards. This article sets out each separately, with the provision behind every power.
Plain-language patterns from six real, verified Hong Kong judgments on theft sentencing: value, records and context moved sentences in these decided cases. Our own summaries; not legal advice and never a prediction.
Plain-language patterns from four real, verified Court of Appeal judgments on dangerous driving: culpability as the dominant factor, alcohol, racing, and disqualification. Our own summaries; not legal advice and never a prediction.
Plain-language patterns from six real, verified Court of Appeal judgments on drug sentencing: quantity-based tariffs, role adjustment, and the self-consumption discount. Our own summaries; not legal advice and never a prediction.
Plain-language patterns from six real, verified judgments: the charge ladder from common assault to wounding with intent, and what moved sentences in these decided cases. Our own summaries; not legal advice and never a prediction.
Plain-language patterns from eight real, verified judgments on indecent assault sentencing: the established bands, aggravating factors, and appellate corrections. Our own summaries; not legal advice and never a prediction.
From lending an account for a few hundred dollars to how the Court of Appeal does the arithmetic — the courts' own words and the actual sentences in five decided cases.
Which convictions attract the Ordinance's protection, which follow you for life, and the positions and proceedings where it does not apply — verified against the ordinance text.
Since 23 March 2026 there is an express password power in national-security investigations. In ordinary criminal investigations no Ordinance gives police an express power to demand a password, though that does not mean police have no other lawful route. The provisions, the gates, the offences, the penalties and the protections on each side, set out one by one.
What a Hong Kong residential tenancy agreement must contain, what the Ordinance implies whether or not it is written in, and how a subdivided-unit tenancy differs — rent, deposit, repairs, sub-letting, forfeiture, notices and the forum for a dispute.
How stamp duty works on Hong Kong tenancy agreements — the four cases in head 1(2)(b), the base each one charges on, who is liable, when to pay, and what happens if you don't.
How a Hong Kong tenancy ends and how a dispute about it is resolved — the Small Claims Tribunal's exclusive money jurisdiction and its exceptions, the Lands Tribunal's enumerated powers, the District Court's possession route, forfeiture for rent arrears, deposits, and the separate rules for regulated tenancies of subdivided units.
Plain-language patterns from six real, verified Hong Kong judgments on water seepage between flats: proof of source, expert evidence, and the range of damages awarded. Our own summaries; not legal advice.
The official timetable, fees and penalties, from the Government's Basic Housing Units site, plus how the regime interacts with Part IVA rent control.
What the Ordinances actually give a landlord whose tenant has disappeared leaving belongings behind: the Lands Tribunal disposal order under Cap. 17 s. 8(8)(c), the forms and fees it runs on, and the offence in Cap. 7 s. 78(2) that self-help falls into. Written from the current text of twelve pieces of legislation, each version-in-force date given in Sources.
Two regimes that must not be mixed: Cap. 283 section 16(1) is how the Housing Authority rents a public flat, section 17A is how it sells an HOS flat, and every rule, consequence and route below differs between them. The article is written in two halves — for public rental, the three limbs of the section 28A offence and the three things that bound it, the eviction chain in sections 19 to 21 and the written notice section 19A requires; for HOS, the restriction period in Schedule paragraph 1 and the part of it section 17B occupies. It also covers the Court of Appeal decision in Leung Wai Chi v Leung Lai Ching (CACV 29/2009), the three doors in Cap. 7, the Lands Tribunal and its leave requirement, and the merits gate in Cap. 91 section 10(3).
Stains on the ceiling, plaster coming down, and you have already told the management office. What comes next is not a list of bodies you may contact — it is an order, because each step either makes evidence or destroys it. With the Government's own numbers, its own price list, and the procedure that changed on 16 July 2026.
The Hong Kong position when a tenant is made bankrupt owing rent — vesting and the automatic stay, whether forfeiture needs the court's leave, the trustee's disclaimer machinery and the two notices that pull against each other, where arrears rank, the deposit and mandatory set-off, distress for rent, and the official figures for what an estate actually distributes.
What the Employees' Compensation Ordinance actually gives you, how each head is computed, how the claim runs, and where the Ordinance stops.
What the statutes actually say after a Hong Kong road accident: the three duties in Cap. 374 s.56, compulsory third-party cover and the insurer's duty to satisfy judgments under Cap. 272, and why the 3-year limitation period is a starting point rather than a closed door.
A plain-language guide to Hong Kong public liability claims — the common duty of care under the Occupiers Liability Ordinance (Cap. 314), the statutory defences, what must be proved, and how the limitation period actually runs.
Plain-language patterns from eight real, verified Hong Kong judgments on traffic-accident damages: the PSLA spectrum by injury severity, contributory negligence, and credibility. Our own summaries; not legal advice.
Plain-language patterns from seven real, verified Hong Kong judgments on work-injury compensation: how ECO awards were built, why sick-leave length drove totals, and the separate common-law route. Our own summaries; not legal advice.
A printable checklist for what to do after a car crash in Hong Kong — and, underneath it, what Road Traffic Ordinance section 56, the Motor Vehicles Insurance (Third Party Risks) Ordinance and the Limitation Ordinance actually say.
What Cap. 374 s.56 obliges you to do after a collision (stop; give particulars if required; report within 24 hours — including where you yourself are the injured person), the separate certificate and reporting duties in Cap. 272 s.16, the two statutory 7-day rules in Cap. 272 s.10, the limitation rule in Cap. 347 s.27 with its knowledge and override qualifiers, and the offences police invoked in the 2026 crash-for-cash cases with their elements, penalties and defences. All arrests are alleged and untested in court.
A driver who settled a Hong Kong road accident privately and has since received a solicitor's letter for personal injury has three separate questions, not one: what the document settled, what the two-year contribution clock in Cap. 347 s.6 has been doing since the day the amount was agreed and for which damage, and where Cap. 272 leaves them with their own insurer.
Why an ordinary commute is generally not covered by the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, the four journeys section 5(4) deems to be work accidents with every condition, and how courts have dealt with meal breaks, employer-arranged cars and accidents before clocking out.
Part one: the contractor's and the worker's duties under the Construction Sites (Safety) Regulations. Part two: the two compensation tracks, the death figures in force, contributory negligence in the fall cases, the first four weeks of evidence, and why a contractor's acquittal does not decide the family's claim.
Why collapsing at work is not by itself an accident under the Employees' Compensation Ordinance, what the courts have required, and where a claim can still lie.
How Hong Kong courts decide whether a platform rider, a 'self-employed' tradesman or a cash-paid casual worker is an employee for work-injury compensation, and how wages are proved without a payslip.
Which work-injury settlements District Court decisions measure against a floor, which certificates and settlements become final or binding, and which payments a judgment did not treat as a settlement.
What makes a Hong Kong will valid under the Wills Ordinance (Cap. 30) — signing, witnessing, the court's dispensing power, revocation by marriage, and the deadlines that follow death.
How Hong Kong's Intestates' Estates Ordinance distributes the estate of a person who dies without a will — the statutory shares for spouse, children, parents, and other relatives.
What a grant does, who may apply, the statutory time limits, court and solicitor fees, and the routes for releasing money before a grant.
What the presumption of revocation is, when it is engaged, what rebuts it and what does not — from the Wills Ordinance, the Probate and Administration Ordinance, the Non-Contentious Probate Rules, the Probate Registry's published practice, and two Court of First Instance judgments on the same factor list with opposite results.
How Hong Kong law decides which succession system governs a cross-border estate: immovables by the law of the place the property stands in, movables by the deceased's domicile at death, with the grant side and the distribution side running on separate lines. Written from Cap. 10, Cap. 10A and Cap. 73, and from two government statements of the inherited common-law rule.
The Hong Kong position when a personal representative moves estate assets — the line the Ordinance draws between slow and wrong, how an account is compelled and by which rule, the sworn schedule and what it need not contain, the two voidability provisions and the land/non-land split, following property under Cap. 10 section 67, removal and its unstated test, the three criminal routes and their thresholds, why a conviction does not return the money, limitation and the qualifier in the chain, and what the free channels do and do not give you.
Why a repealed tax still reaches a conveyance, read from the Ordinance itself: s.2's date boundary, the 25 Parts of Schedule 1 that no government rate table publishes, what s.18's first charge attaches to, the clearance routes and who may apply for each, and the postponement route in s.15(2)–(3).
A plain-language guide to incorporating a private company limited by shares in Hong Kong — what incorporation does, who may serve, the prescribed government fees, the filing deadlines the Ordinance actually sets, the Significant Controllers Register, and how a company is wound down.
A plain-language guide to shareholders' agreements in Hong Kong private limited companies — which points rest on the Companies Ordinance (Cap. 622) and which are pure contract, how the agreement sits alongside the articles, and the members' rights that no agreement can remove.
A plain-language guide to Hong Kong employment contracts — key terms, the new 417/468 rule for continuous contracts (in operation 28 December 2025), probation, notice, and the enforceability of restrictive covenants like non-compete and non-solicitation.
There is no Hong Kong debt-collection ordinance. This guide sets out, from the statutes themselves, the five general regimes that do bite, the 6-year limitation clock and what restarts it, and which forum a debt claim must go to.
A statute-first explanation of Hong Kong bankruptcy: who may petition, the conditions that must all be met, the deposits and fees fixed by subsidiary legislation, the discharge clock and how it can be stopped, and what discharge does not release. Information, not a recommendation.
What the Bankruptcy Ordinance and the Bankruptcy Rules actually provide about a voluntary arrangement — who is bound, the statutory timetable, the fee scale, the occupation consequences, and how to read IVA advertising against the text.
What Cap. 163 gives a borrower, what it does not, and — set out honestly — which collection conduct is criminal under which provision, and where the provisions are thinner than a frightened reader would hope.
Two clocks, set out one at a time. The Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) governs your status: 4 years for a first bankruptcy, 5 for a repeat. How long the record is kept is set somewhere else — in a code of practice approved under s.12 of the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance (Cap. 486) and notified in the Gazette: public record data about a bankruptcy for up to 8 years running from the declaration rather than the discharge, and a separate five-year clock for account repayment data whose clause 3.4B lets the agency keep that data only until the earlier of two dates: five years after final settlement of the amount written off, and five years after your discharge — the discharge date counting only if you notify the agency of the discharge with evidence. The article also sets out the correction and access routes in Cap. 486 ss.22, 25 and 26, the Administrative Appeals Board position on what an approved code is, and why changing the eight years needs no legislature.
A practical explanation of evidence for oral or written friend loans, limitation, acknowledgments and Hong Kong court and tribunal jurisdiction.
Hong Kong's 2026 lender conditions explained: licence coverage, DSR and employment-term limits, referee protection, evidence and complaint jurisdictions.
The statutory time limits that govern how quickly a Hong Kong case must be listed or a decree made absolute, quoted from the Ordinances and Rules themselves.
Every court fee in Hong Kong is prescribed by a named piece of subsidiary legislation, not by the parent Ordinance. This guide traces each figure to the rule that sets it, gives the 80% concessionary fee for electronic filing, and sets out which fee schedules carry a power to reduce, remit or defer payment and which do not — for bankruptcy, that power sits in the parent Ordinance rather than the Fees Order itself. Court fees only; this page does not cover solicitors' fees.
The financial eligibility limits in the Legal Aid Ordinance, how the means test is actually computed under the Assessment of Resources and Contributions Regulations, the proceedings that are excepted outright, the contribution scales, and the separate rules governing criminal legal aid.
The Small Claims Tribunal end to end — what the Schedule's proviso excludes, who may appear, the fee schedule, the three ways the 7-day appeal clock runs, and enforcement in the District Court.
The hub for our real-case pattern series: 10 articles drawing on 50+ verified Hong Kong judgments, covering compensation, sentencing and dispute outcomes, with every case linked to HKLII.
What the Defamation Ordinance (Cap. 21) actually provides for a person who shares someone else's words, what it is silent about, where the six-year period comes from, and why four things widely stated in English-language material are not Hong Kong law.
A practical guide to preserving evidence, contacting a card issuer, identifying the contracting company, filing a proof of debt, and understanding Customs, Consumer Council and civil routes.
A practical guide to documenting defective work, handling rectification, calculating loss and choosing the appropriate Hong Kong court or tribunal.
A practical Hong Kong guide to urgent bank, Police, platform and civil-recovery steps after suspected online marketplace fraud, with the Hong Kong judgments that show what courts actually ordered.
A practical guide to the contract, industry Code, statutory protections, complaint routes and court options that may apply to Hong Kong telecom disputes.
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These guides are for general legal information only and do not constitute legal advice.