26th September 2026 – (Hong Kong) A one-third slice of a tiny Sham Shui Po rooftop flat bought by three friends more than four decades ago is heading to auction after one co-owner died and the others either died without heirs or dropped out of contact, leaving buyers facing a classic incomplete-title puzzle.
The flat sits at the top of Chi Fuk Mansion in Sham Shui Po. It offers about 237 square feet of saleable space in a one-bedroom layout, plus an attached rooftop of about 188 square feet. Loyalty Auction plans to offer the deceased resident’s one-third interest — a titled estate share with vacant possession — on Wednesday, 7th October, from HK$800,000. A bank valuation for the whole unit stands at about HK$3 million.
According to a Loyalty Auction spokesperson, the three friends purchased the home jointly in 1982 for about HK$312,000 and held it as tenants in common, each with an equal one-third share. Over the years contact between them broke down. One original owner continued to live in the flat but lost touch with the other two; that resident has since died, and the one-third interest standing in his name has passed to an estate executor who is now putting it under the hammer. Interior photographs show dated decoration, peeling plaster on the ceiling and walls, and personal belongings and furniture still left from the late owner’s life there.
Of the remaining two shares, one co-owner is also understood to have died without descendants, while the last is simply missing from any recent contact. That mix of death and disappearance has left the overall title unusually tangled for such a small flat. Although the lot is being marketed vacant, anyone who later hopes to sell the home at a normal market price may first have to play detective — tracing who still owns the other two-thirds and persuading every interest-holder to agree a joint disposal.
A further practical hurdle sits with the banks. Incomplete-title or “broken deed” flats of this kind seldom attract ordinary mortgages, so a successful bidder will very likely need to pay in full. Even then, owning only one-third does not unlock a clean exit: the remaining two-thirds must be clarified and all co-owners must consent before the unit can be sold as a whole.
