5
40
quoted were the charter converting their 75 year leases into 75 plus 75's; that the words "In the case of leases for 75 years" applied to all such leases, past, present and future.
18.
Furthermore, there evidently was then, and still is, wide- spread ignorance of the English law of leasehold. Coviously, the
being Chinese
hed no
great majority of the population
familiarity with English systems of land tenure. Mr. A.Shelton Hooper, a Colonial Fellow of the Surveyors Institution, who was appointed in 1886 by the Secretary of State professional valuer for rating purposes in Hong Kong, lecturing to the Institution in June, 1914, made these pertinent remarks in the course of a paper on "Land Tenure and Values in Hong Kong" :-
self.
"In valuations in Hong Kong and districts the value of reversions is ignored, and all property is valued as if it were held in perpetuity; this would appear to be quite unsound in principle, but the fact remains -- no purchaser gives anything less for a property here whether the lease has only 50 years to run or the balance of 999 years. This is no doubt caused by the great faith which the Chinese have in the administration of the British Government, whom they believe will renew their leases, at any rate with a small increase of Crown rent, but without the charge of any additional premia."
19.
This understanding has been fostered by the Government it- For example, the method of calculating the rateable value of leasehold properties is defined in the Rating Ordinance, 1901, Section 2(1) as follows:
if
(i) "Rateable value" means the rent at which any tenement might reasonably be expected to let, at the time of the valuation, from year to year, if the tenant undertook to pay all usual tenants' rates and taxes, the landlord undertook to pay the Crown rent and the costs of repairs and insurance, with any other expenses necessary to maintain the tenement in a state to command that rent.
In the case of buildings let to more than one occupier, there may be deducted from the total annual rent of the whole tenement, estimated as aforesaid, a sum not exceeding twenty per cent. of the whole as an allowance for such portions of such buildings as may reasonably be expected to be unlet from time to time during the ensuing year, and the remainder shall be the rateable value.
• 2 (+
No allowance is made for amruttoing the lease, as would have been made if the Government or the leaseholders had any expectation that 75 year leases would only be renewed upon payment of heavy premia. In the same way, the Government Valuers have never mentioned the wasting nature of the investment when valuing leasehold properties
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