10
45
In
the exaction of a penalty in the form of a fine or premium.
short, the full requirements of leasehold law were to be waived.
32.
On the 14th May, 1925, Mr. H. W. Bird asked in the Iegislative
Council whether the Government would indicate its policy with regard
to the terms on which it would be prepared to renew the 75 year
leases either at or before the date of expiry. The full text of the
reply given by the Colonial Secretary was as follows:
"Except in cases where there is reason to anticipate that land will be required for a public purpose, it is proposed to grant to applicants a new lease for 75 years at the current rate of Crown rent for the particular locality, renewable for a further period of 75 years at a re-assessed Crown rent, subject to a guarantee that the land will be developed in a manner approved by the Government, and subject also to a renewal fine.
As re- gards the renewal fine, the Government will offer such terms to individual applicants as it may think fit, having regard to the circumstances of each case. The fine will be heavier in the case of land which has never been developed than it will be in the case of land which is fully built upon. The intention is to secure the development of the land to the best possible advantage and at the same time to obtain for the Government an adequate consideration for its reversionary interest in the land under its present tenure.
33. The text of this reply calls for careful examination, for
it manifests wide differences from the previous statement. Whereas
Messrs. Dennys & Bowley had been informed, ten years before, that,
in the event of the land not being required for public purposes on
the expiration of the lease, renewal would be granted at a fair rent
to be determined, failing agreement, by arbitration, Mr. H.W.Bird
was told that the 75 year lessees would be given a new lease which
would put them in the same position as the holders of the standard
leases of 75 plus 75 years. For this, however, they would have to
pay a renewal fine". As to rent, the first 75 year period of the
new lease would call for payment of rent at the current rate for the particular locality (zone rent); the second 75 years would carry a "re-assessed Crown rent" no details being given as to whether this woull be (as it is in standard 75 plus 75 year leases) "the fair and reasonable rental value of the ground at the date of such renewal" or merely an increase to the zone rent then prevailing in the locality.
Furthermore, substantial departures from the accepted
practice of leasehold law are to be noted. For instance, in assessing
34.
No comments yet.
Private notes are available after approval.