Sunevision hails ruling on HKSTP leases

Sunevision (1686), the technology arm of Sun Hung Kai Property (0016), welcomed the Court of Appeal's ruling on potential breaches of lease conditions of data centers in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate.

Sunevision had appealed against decisions by Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation including not taking immediate steps to enforce restrictions against the operators of the data centers who sublet the leased premises or allowed third parties to occupy them.

On May 31, the Court of Appeal allowed the Sunevision's appeal and held that HKSTP has misconstrued the occupation restriction under its own lease restriction policy and that it has also breached its duty of making reasonable inquiries when handling the complaints from Sunevision.

The court also directed HKSTP to reconsider Sunevision's complaints.

Sunevision said the government has allocated more than 200 hectares of land to HKSTP to operate three industrial estates in Tseung Kwan O, Yuen Long and Tai Po. HKSTP should properly and effectively use the land resources to support Hong Kong's innovation and technology sector.

HKSTP should immediately rectify the problems to ensure tenants strictly comply with the lease conditions, otherwise the tenants must return their sites to the HKSTP or the government for proper use, it said.