Saleable Area of Residential Properties

1. Estate agents are required to provide the saleable area of a second-hand residential property to their clients in advertisements and in provision of the floor area information of the property.
2. The relevant regulations only require the provision of saleable area by agents in their provision of area information but do not require the provision of price per square foot. If the price per square foot is provided, it should be stated whether it was calculated in terms of saleable area or gross floor area to avoid misrepresentation.
3. Estate agents should obtain the property’s saleable area information from the Rating and Valuation Department (“RVD”) or the agreement for sale and purchase of the first assignment of the property registered in the Land Registry (“First Agreement”).
4. If the saleable area of the property (such as village house) cannot be obtained from either the RVD or the First Agreement, estate agents may provide the gross floor area or other floor area information of the property but they should provide evidence to prove such information is obtained from a reasonable source, such as the surveyor’s report or the sales brochure provided by the developer.
5. The font size used in advertisement regarding the saleable area shall be no smaller than that of the gross floor area of the property.