CO129-589-15 Crown leases 4-2-1941 - 3-12-1941 — Page 14

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required for public purposes on expiry of the lease (our italics)

no compensation is paid to the lessee on re-entry, whereas, in the

case of the 75 plus 75 year leases, if the land is resumed on the

expiration of the first 75 years, compensation for improvements and

disturbance is awarded to the lessee? It is also to be noted that

in each type of lease the cur pensation clause is in ger eral terms

ard is not specifically associated with the expiry date. The in-

tention appears to be that, if at any time during the currency of either type of lease the Crown resumes for a public purpose, com-

pensation shall be paid.

14. The Financial Secretary writes, at the end cf para. 17,

"The further statement that Government Valuers have igrored the

wasting nature of the investment when valuing leasehold properties

for probate purposes is not in accordance with the facts". The

Special Committee will be glad to have evidence that their statement

in wrong. There is ample proof that, in recent years, private

valuers have valued, and the public has purchased the seventy-five

year leases, at prices far higher than would have ruled had the

terminable nature of the investment been realised. Apparently the

Government accepted these high values for probate purposes whereas,

if the Government Valuers arrived at a much lower figure in their

valuations, it is to be supposed that the executors cf estates would

have been informed and lower estate duties woull have been charged.

Alternatively, if the values ascribed to seventy-five year non-

renewable leases were accepted as correct, the question would arise

whether the values of leases of longer duration, held by the same

estate, had been understated. In order to clear up the question,

the Committee requests the Government to institute a search of a

number of affidavits made for the Estate Duty Commissioner and to

make extracts from Model A "Schedule of Land & Buildings, covering

ε number of properties of various tenures: 999, 99, 75 plus 75

and 75 year leases.

it

15. With regard to zone rents, and the rent to be fixed at

the expiry of the first term of the seventy-five year renewable

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