Chapter 7: Production
LAND TENURE
THE form of land tenure in use in the Colony is leasehold from the Crown. In the early days of the Colony Crown leases were granted for 75, 99, or 999 years. The present practice is for leases to be granted for 75 years, renewable for a further 75 years at a re-assessed Crown rent. In the New Territories, in order to coincide with the period of the lease from China, which will expire on 30th June, 1997, Crown leases are conventionally expressed as being for the residue of a term of 75 years from 1st July, 1898, renewable for a further 24 years, less the last three days.
Land administration in Hong Kong and Kowloon is the responsibility of the Director of Public Works, who is con- currently the Building Authority. The Director also controls New Kowloon, which is that part of the New Territories situated immediately north of Boundary Street, Kowloon, and south of the Kowloon hills. The District Commissioner, New Territories, is responsible for land administration throughout the rest of the New Territories. Records of land grants by the Crown and of all private land transactions are kept in the Registrar General's Department (see under Law and Order) for Hong Kong and Kowloon, and in the three District Offices, situated in Kowloon, Tai Po, and Ping Shan, for the whole of the New Territories, with the excep- tion of certain lots which are administered by the Director of Public Works and are usually known as Inland Lots. These cover a large part of New Kowloon. Deeds relating to these are recorded in the Registrar General's Department.
In recent years certain groups of the 75-year Crown leases granted in the Colony's early years, and chiefly affecting