CO129-624-7 Crown leases 1-4-1950 - 28-2-1951 — Page 6

(Copy)

Enclosure B.

6

PRESS RELEASE.

RENEWAL TERMS FOR EXPIRING 75-YEAR CROWN LEASES.

The official announcement on this subject which was given wide publication in the press of the Colony on the 23rd February, 1949, sets out in full the terms which are to be applicable to the grant of new Crown Leases in place of the expiring 75-year non-renewable Crown Leases and makes it clear that although the legal position is that the buildings on the land at the end of the expired term of lease revert to and become the absolute property of Government as the Ground Landlord, Government is not at present proposing to charge premium for the value of the buildings on the granting of a new lease to existing lessees.

The amount payable for premium on renewal by existing lessees will be confined to the full value of the land (exclusive of the buildings thereon), according to the rates prevailing in the locality at the time of the application for renewal.

It was also explained in the announcement of February, 1949 that while Government was, for the time being, willing to concede this valuable benefit to lessees whose leases were now expiring, this was in the nature of a special temporary concession due to the abnormal circumstances following the last War, and was not to be regarded as in any way prejudicing or affecting Government's right to charge in future full premium both for the value of the buildings as well as of the land in the normal way.

In those cases where the lessee holding over under the expiring lease does not wish to take up the lease on the terms now offered, Government will of course be free to dispose of the property by public auction receiving full market value both for the buildings and the land. These terms are applicable to Kowloon Inland Lots and Kowloon Marine Lots, the leases of which are now expiring, as well as to lots on the Island of Hong Kong.