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Planning, Land and Infrastructure
The department carries out squatter control work. There are about 6,680 surveyed squatter structures in urban areas and about 380,400 in the New Territories. Under current policy, these structures are tolerated until they cease to exist or are to be cleared for development, environmental improvement or safety reasons. During the year, 271 illegal structures and extensions were demolished by the Squatter Control Unit, in addition to unauthorised structures cleared by other sections of the department in the context of land control and lease enforcement.
The department also handled 17,446 cases of reported unlawful occupation of government land, of which 11,606 cases required site clearance, including clearance by the occupiers in response to the department's enforcement actions. It also handled another 2,140 cases, involving breaches of lease conditions.
The Tree Unit under the department provides in-house advice on tree and landscape issues relating to leased land, and on tree maintenance matters relating to the health and structural conditions of trees on unleased and unallocated government land not taken up by other departments. The unit handled 3,132 cases concerning trees and landscape issues on private and government land in 2016.
Land Conveyancing
The Lands Department's Legal Advisory and Conveyancing Office provides legal advice and conveyancing services for government land transactions. These include drafting all government land disposal and lease modification documents and checking titles in land acquisitions. It also processes applications for sale of units under construction under the Lands Department Consent Scheme. In 2016, 43 applications were approved. Of these, 36 applications related to residential developments, involving 17,008 flats. It also approves Deeds of Mutual Covenant. In 2016, 43 such deeds were approved. It also processes apportionments of premium and government rents, and recovers arrears of government rents by taking re-entry or vesting action.
Land Acquisition
Private land may be acquired for public use through voluntary surrender or resumption under ordinances which provide for compensation for the property's value and for the loss of business. If the amount of payment cannot be agreed, either party may seek adjudication at the Lands Tribunal. Some 55,273 sq m of private land were acquired in 2016. Compensation amounting to $480.7 million was paid.
The Lands Department is involved in resuming land for urban renewal projects. In 2016, compensation totalling $312.8 million was paid under the Lands Resumption Ordinance to owners of 48 resumed properties affected by 15 urban renewal projects. Compensation amounting to about $111 million was paid for a number of railway projects, including the Hong Kong section of the Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Express Rail Link and the West Rail.
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