HOUSING AND LAND
107
Since 1975, the Land Office has assumed responsibilities for the enforcement of covenants contained in Crown leases. Assistant registrars inspect certain classes of buildings periodically and, if breaches are discovered, steps are taken to ensure that they are rectified or the lease is modified, usually on payment of fees or a premium. A special Home Ownership Section was established in the Land Office during the year to provide a conveyancing service for the Housing Authority, in connection with the sale of flats built under the Home Ownership Scheme. The section is responsible for completing the assignment of flats to successful applicants under the scheme. At the end of the year, 5,497 assignments had been completed.
The Land Registration Ordinance provides that all instruments registered under it shall have priority according to their respective dates of registration. This provision applies unless they are registered within certain time limits mentioned in the ordinance, in which case priority generally relates back to the date of the instrument. The ordinance also provides that unregistered instruments, other than bona fide leases at rack rent for any term not exceeding three years, shall be null and void as against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee for valuable consideration. Registra- tion is therefore essential to the protection of title, but does not guarantee it.
During the year, the Land Registration Ordinance was amended by the Land Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 1978 which introduced a uniform period of one month after the time of execution for the registration of instruments, whether they are executed within Hong Kong or overseas. Special provisions were also made for the priority of charging orders and pending actions. For these two classes of instrument, priority runs from the commencement of the day following the date of actual registration.
During the year, the number of instruments registered in the Land Office rose 27.7 per cent to bring the total to 170,715, compared with 133,638 in 1977. More detailed statistics and comparisons with previous years are contained in Appendix 29. At the end of the year, the card index of property owners contained the names of 337,869 people, an increase of 22,028 over the previous year. Some own several properties, but most are owners or part-owners of small, individual flats.
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Urban Renewal and Environmental Improvement
The complete redevelopment of old properties under the Urban Renewal Pilot Scheme, in an area bounded by Queen's Road Central, Queen's Road West, Hollywood Road, Shing Wong Street and Gough Street, has advanced to the stage where all private lots affected have been acquired and substantially cleared. With the land acquisition programme completed, the last stage of roadworks, consisting of the widening of two existing streets and the construction of a pedestrian promenade, is expected to be finished in mid-1979. Two sites were sold for a total of $49 million, adding to the accumulated revenue of $155.9 million derived from auction sales of sites within the scheme. It is planned to release further sites within this area for sale by public auction at regular intervals.
The purchase continued of privately-owned property zoned for open space and government, institutional and community uses in the town plans for Western District, Wan Chai and Yau Ma Tei. During the year, 68 properties were acquired at a cost of $39.4 million. In addition, the leases of 12 properties in the Yau Ma Tei district