Low Yen Hau

On the court record

Low Yen Hau appears in the reported corpus as counsel with a distinct specialism in strata and property management, alongside employment and civil litigation, across the High Court and Court of Appeal. A recurring theme is the governance of stratified developments under the Strata Management Act 2013. In one Court of Appeal appeal the reported reasons hold that parcel owners in arrears cannot vote unless disputes over the arrears are resolved through a full trial, directing that the matter proceed as a writ action; in a related High Court matter the unit holders sought an interim injunction to be allowed to vote and participate in an annual general meeting pending the disposal of the suit. He was also engaged in an appeal on the validity of a bifurcated management structure in a mixed development under the Building and Common Property (Maintenance and Management) Act 2007 and the Strata Management Act 2013.

His reported work extends to committal and stay applications arising from the same field and to employment judicial review. In one matter the defendants obtained leave to commence committal proceedings against a joint management body following a post-trial judgment, and in a related appeal the plaintiff sought a stay of that judgment pending the disposal of a civil appeal. On the employment side he was engaged in a Court of Appeal appeal against a decision upholding the Industrial Court's finding that a retrenchment was justified, where the question was whether the employer had proved genuine financial hardship and whether the financial position of a parent company could be relied on. The reported matters mark Low Yen Hau as counsel deeply engaged in strata-management and property-governance litigation, with the voting rights, management structures and enforcement mechanisms of stratified developments recurring across his reported appearances. These reported matters, several arising from the same stratified developments, illustrate how disputes over maintenance charges, voting rights and management control escalate from the management office to the appellate courts, and how the governance provisions of the strata legislation are tested in practice.