15
Wednesday, May 10, 1972
HON SZETO WAI SPEAKS FOR THE SMALL COMMON MAN
Urges Crown Rents Be Related To Rateable Value
The Hon. Szeto Wai said today that to the average man the present
method of reassessing Crown rents on renewable leases was either a case
of inconsistency of Government policy or that of lack of clarity in the
terms of the original lease.
He was adding his voice to the general concern expressed by other
Unofficial Members who had earlier spoken on the motion to review the present
policy of reassessing Crown rents.
"It remains for me to plead the case of the small common men who
undoubtedly form a greater bulk of the people being called upon to shoulder the
colossal burden and hardship," he said.
He explained that he had in mind the old-age pensioners, the widows,
the working men, etc. who had spent most of their life-long savings in
purchasing a humble small flat in one of the multi-storey, multi-unit
post-war developments, hoping to live out their lives happily and securely.
This group of people scarcely suspected that they would be called
upon to face the demand of a staggering reassessed Crown rent -- a sum in most
cases beyond their "conjecture not to mention their reach, he added.
He explained that prior to the publication of Government's Consolidated
Statement concerning the terms and conditions for renewal of these leases, even
a legal mind could have been misled by the original conditions which, to all
intents and purposes, conveyed that the lease could be renewed at expiry
without payment of premium or fine but at a Crown rent for the second period
to be fairly and impartially fixed by the Director of Public Works as the
fair and reasonable rental value of the ground at the date of renewal.
/Over