Major repair work: Whose responsibility?

This chapter examines decision-making in relation to major repair work in multi-owned property in Hong Kong, China. It considers the difficulty a ‘responsible’ owner would have in the context of the current multi-ownership regime and the ecology of the building maintenance industry. Major repair works involve not just problems that are common to collective decision-making, such as free riding and collective action, but also technical complexity on the scope and expected quality of the major repairs. This chapter highlights the connection between internal issues of the property and the external environment in the process of decision-making. It contends that the state, the market and the third sector can each play an important role in providing innovative, flexible and socially responsible solutions.