Mark 6 millionaire Jagpal Singh faces claim for years of missed rent
Jagpal Singh hadn't paid rent since 1995, court hears, as he scraps bid for squatters' rights
PUBLISHED : Saturday, 23 November, 2013, 5:04am
UPDATED : Saturday, 23 November, 2013, 7:53am
Julie Chu [email protected]
Jagpal Singh
A lottery winner's luck ran out when he tried to claim squatters' rights on the flat he had lived in all his life - and he now faces a claim for more than a decade of back rent.
Jagpal Singh, who pocketed HK$44.3 million when he took a one-third share of the Mark Six's biggest ever rollover jackpot in 2011, applied to the District Court for adverse possession of the flat at Nation Street, North Point.
He said he had lived in the flat since he was born in 1977.
But his lawyer told the court yesterday that his client had decided to discontinue his claim. The lawyer gave no details of why he dropped the claim.
And counsel for the flat's owner, Yu King-chau, told the court Yu was seeking vacant possession of the home - and payment of the rent Singh had failed to cough up over the years.
According to a writ filed in December 2011 - seven months after Singh hit the jackpot - Singh's parents had originally rented the flat from Yu's mother Kwong Mei-heung, who died in 1981.
They continued to pay rent into an account in Kwong's name until 1995, when the rent was about HK$1,500 per month.
Despite the fact Singh and his mother stopped paying rent, Yu had not asked them for the money or for possession of the flat, the writ said.
Believing Yu's rights to the flat had expired, Singh, whose mother died in 2008, asked the court to declare him its owner.
But lawyers for Yu, who was granted probate on the flat in July 2011, told the court he would file a counterclaim against the lottery winner seeking rent and possession of the flat.
Deputy Judge Lawrence Yip Sue-pui adjourned the case until May 14.
After winning the jackpot, Singh pledged to continue working as a delivery driver despite his newfound wealth.
Chinese-language newspapers reported last year that Singh had spent part of his newfound fortune on three flats at Caribbean Coast in Tung Chung, from which he was brining in more than HK$40,000 per month in rent.
