Tse Kwong Lam v Wong Chit Sen [1983] UKPC 28[1] is a land law case, concerning the rights and obligations of a mortgagee in the exercise of his power of sale under a mortgage.

Mr Wong (Chinese: 黃直生) exercised his power of sale and put up Mr Tse’s (Chinese: 謝廣林) property for auction, a building with about 100 units in Kowloon, the Kwong Hing Building.

The trial Judge found that $1.2m was not a proper price, but refused to set the sale aside because of the borrower’s delay in pursuing the counterclaim.

There was a clear conflict of interest here, importing a necessity to show that reasonable precautions had been taken to get the best price.

The Board advised that although the respondent was free to sell to a company in which he was interested, he had failed to demonstrate he had taken reasonable care in the conduct of the sale.