Start by identifying the transaction and the document that sets the date. A first-hand residential sale is subject to statutory rules about the Preliminary Agreement for Sale and Purchase (PASP) and Agreement for Sale and Purchase (ASP). In a resale, the PASP usually sets the date for the formal agreement.
Those are different starting points. Stamping, title requisitions, completion and registration also have their own triggers. They should not be treated as one running property deadline.
The source material for this guide was checked on 3 August 2026. It explains date-counting rules and document stages; the signed agreement and the facts of the transaction determine the obligations in a particular sale.
Start with the document that governs the step
| Step | Starting point | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| First-hand purchaser signs the ASP | The PASP and the first-hand sales rules | The purchaser has five specially defined working days after entering into the PASP |
| First-hand vendor signs the ASP | The PASP and the first-hand sales rules | The vendor has eight working days after the PASP, if the purchaser signed in time |
| Resale parties sign the formal agreement | The resale PASP | The PASP normally states the signing date |
| Agreement is stamped | The relevant agreement and the Stamp Duty Ordinance | The ordinary limit is 30 days, but the relevant agreement can differ where two agreements are signed |
| Title requisitions are raised | The formal agreement and receipt of title deeds | The agreement states the period; seven working days is common, but not universal |
| Sale completes | The PASP and formal agreement | The contract supplies the date and can supply a time |
| Instrument is registered | Land registration rules | Lodgement within one month can preserve priority; the Registry's processing time is a separate matter |
First-hand residential sales: five working days for the purchaser
For a first-hand residential property, the purchaser must execute the ASP within five working days after entering into the PASP. If the purchaser signs in time, the vendor must execute the ASP within eight working days after entering into the PASP.
The Sales of First-hand Residential Properties Authority says that the purchaser pays a preliminary deposit of 5% on entering into the PASP. If the purchaser does not execute the ASP within the five working days, the PASP ends and the preliminary deposit is forfeited. The Authority's guidance is specific to first-hand residential property; it does not create the same rule for a resale.
The first-hand definition of a working day
For this rule, a working day is a day that is not a General Holiday, Saturday, black rainstorm warning day or gale warning day. This is more specific than a Monday-to-Friday count. Sunday is already excluded because every Sunday is a General Holiday.
The calculator can exclude scheduled Saturdays, Sundays and gazetted General Holidays. Historical black-rainstorm and gale-warning information must be checked separately and added to the calculation where required.
Example: a PASP before Lunar New Year
Assume a purchaser enters into a PASP for a first-hand residential property on Tuesday 28 January 2025. That year is used because its Lunar New Year holidays ran straight into a weekend, which shows the effect of the special working-day definition more clearly than a year where the holidays fall mid-week. For this example, treat the PASP date as excluded from the five-working-day period.
The official 2025 holiday list records 29, 30 and 31 January as the Lunar New Year General Holidays.
| Date | Treatment |
|---|---|
| Wednesday 29 January | General Holiday — excluded |
| Thursday 30 January | General Holiday — excluded |
| Friday 31 January | General Holiday — excluded |
| Saturday 1 February | Saturday — excluded |
| Sunday 2 February | General Holiday — excluded |
| Monday 3 February | Working day 1 |
| Tuesday 4 February | Working day 2 |
| Wednesday 5 February | Working day 3 |
| Thursday 6 February | Working day 4 |
| Friday 7 February | Working day 5 |
On those scheduled dates, the fifth working day is Friday 7 February 2025. The result assumes that no black rainstorm or gale warning day changed the count. It shows why 29 January to 2 February contributes no working days under the special first-hand definition.
Open the five-working-day example in the calculator.
Resale sales: the PASP sets the formal-agreement date
The first-hand five-day rule is not a standard deadline for a secondary-market sale. A resale PASP normally states when the parties are to sign the formal agreement, when the further deposit is due and the completion date. The signed PASP supplies those dates.
The Estate Agents Authority also identifies a separate 14-day stamping point. For a residential sale, HK$100 stamp duty is payable on a provisional agreement if the formal agreement is signed more than 14 days after the provisional agreement. That charge does not turn 14 days into a standard deadline for signing every resale ASP.
For a resale period, use the trigger, length, day-counting method and boundary treatment written in the agreement. A typical market timetable cannot replace the wording the parties signed.
Stamping has its own 30-day rule
An agreement for sale of immovable property is normally stamped within 30 days after execution. This is a calendar-day period. Saturdays, Sundays and General Holidays do not stop the count simply because the Stamp Office is closed.
Where two agreements for the same transaction are signed, the relevant date depends on what happens to the first agreement. If it is superseded by the second agreement within 14 days, the second agreement's date is relevant. Otherwise, the first agreement's date is relevant.
The Inland Revenue Department has separate rules for over-the-counter stamping when the last day is a Severe Weather Day. The time limit then includes the next day that is neither a public holiday nor a Severe Weather Day. A Severe Weather Day earlier in the period does not add a day. Check the current stamping process for the method being used.
The Hong Kong stamp duty deadlines guide covers late-stamping penalties and current duty rates. This calculation does not establish the duty payable.
Title requisitions and completion come from the formal agreement
A title requisition is a question or objection about the seller's title. The formal agreement specifies the period for raising one. The Estate Agents Authority describes seven working days after receipt of the title deeds as usual, but the particular agreement controls the period, trigger and any consequence of missing it.
Completion is also contractual. The PASP normally records the completion date, and the formal agreement sets out the parties' obligations. The Estate Agents Authority notes that time is of the essence and gives 5pm as an example of a completion time. A date-only calculation cannot determine whether the required payment, documents and timing meet the contract.
The calculator becomes useful after the agreement has established a period in working days or calendar days. Questions about the validity of a requisition, compliance with the agreement and the consequences of a breach remain outside the date calculation.
Registration: priority is different from processing time
The Land Registry says that there is no general legal time limit for registering an instrument. Timing can still affect priority. An instrument duly presented within one month after execution may retain priority from its execution date; outside that period, priority is counted from its actual due presentation. Some court documents have separate rules.
This one-month period concerns priority. It is not a deadline after which registration is impossible. It should also be kept separate from the Registry's published 2025/26 performance pledge. That pledge allows 14 working days: 11 working days from receipt to updating the land register, and three further working days for imaging and returning the registered deed.
That is a processing target after lodgement, not a 14-working-day deadline for lodging a transaction.
Using a calculated date in the transaction
For the first-hand PASP-to-ASP rule, the calculator can reproduce the scheduled part of the five-working-day count and show the excluded weekends and General Holidays. For a resale or title-requisition period, it can count the date once the agreement supplies the trigger, duration, boundaries and applicable holiday definition.
The transaction documents and relevant rules must establish whether the sale is first-hand, which agreement sets the stamping date, whether severe weather changes the statutory period and how a term in the agreement operates. For the underlying counting choices, see Working Days vs Calendar Days in Hong Kong.
Keep a calculated date with the clause or rule used. That makes clear whether the date is a first-hand statutory count, a resale term, a stamping date or a registration-priority date. Changes to one do not normally change the others. Recheck the documents if the transaction terms change. For a first-hand sale, record any verified black-rainstorm or gale-warning day separately, because it is part of that statutory definition but not a feature of every property deadline.
Sources
Sources checked on 3 August 2026:
- SRPA: PASP and ASP questions for purchasers, the purchaser and vendor periods, deposit consequence and special definition of working day
- GovHK: General Holidays for 2025, the Lunar New Year dates used in the example
- Estate Agents Authority: Provisional Agreement for Sale and Purchase, resale dates and the separate 14-day stamping point
- Estate Agents Authority: Formal Agreement for Sale and Purchase, title requisitions and completion timing
- GovHK: Time Limit for Stamping, the 30-day period and two-agreement rule
- IRD: Stamping time limits affected by Severe Weather, the treatment of a Severe Weather Day in over-the-counter stamping
- Land Registry: Registration FAQs and performance pledges, the one-month priority position and separate 14-working-day processing target
