Two co-owners on Yan Oi Street, Wong Tai Sin, had a 15 square metre structure on their flat roof. Nobody approved it. The Buildings Department sent a removal order. They did not remove it.

On October 7 the Kowloon City Magistrates' Courts fined them HK$53,250 in total. Of that, HK$38,160 was the charge for the days the offence kept going. The court had convicted them on May 6, so the clock was still running after that.

Same story in Sham Shui Po. Two co-owners on Fuk Wing Street had a 32 square metre structure on the roof of a residential building. Also no approval. Also a removal order they ignored.

They were fined HK$62,910 in total, and HK$47,820 of it was the daily charge. So most of the bill is the waiting.

Here is how it works, and it is a bit cheeky when you read it. The law lets a court fine you up to HK$200,000 and jail you for a year. Then it adds up to HK$20,000 for every extra day you leave the thing standing. The roof does not care. The meter does.

If you own a flat in a building like these, the order goes to the co-owners. Not the one guy who built it. Everyone on the paper shares the problem, and the notice says nothing about who pays what.

The Buildings Department says it will keep prosecuting owners who ignore removal orders, and that owners must comply "without delay". Its spokesman said unauthorised works "may lead to serious consequences". Got an order on your roof? The cheapest day to deal with it was the day it arrived.