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having to pay the full premium within one month of the fall of the hammer, the successful bidder of an industrial lot may now pay the premium by four equal instalments, interest-free, over two years, which is the normal building covenant period for such lots, the first instalment within three days of the sale, the second within 12 months, the third within 18 months and the fourth and last within 24 months from the sale. One or two Land Office Assistant Registrars attend all the auction sales to supervise the execution of the Conditions of Sale by the successful purchasers. 35. The reduction in the number of private treaty grants was mainly due to there being only two grants for Civil Servants Co-operative Build- ing Schemes, (the Government having in 1962 suspended the issue of fresh loans pending a review of policy), and two grants in lieu of com- pensation for land resumed, as against 22 and 18 respectively in the previous year. The complete list of purposes for which private treaty grants were made during the year is as follows:
Schools
Public Utilities
*
Welfare and Training Centres
...
Churches (one with a school and one with a welfare centre) Civil Servants' Co-operative Building Schemes
Grants in lieu of cash compensation for land resumed Miscellaneous (including one Temple)
10
5
4
3
2
2
8
...
•
34
...
36. The large reduction in the number of Conditions of Re-Grant put through in 1963-64 as compared with that in 1962–63 (217 as against 429) was due to the fact that the majority of the 75 year non-renewable leases in the Tsim Sha Tsui area of Kowloon, where there has been an immense amount of redevelopment in recent years, have now been dealt with.
37. Applications may be made for the regrant of land held under a non-renewable 75 year lease any time within 20 years from the date of expiry of the term, but applications for regrant are not usually made until the owner is ready to redevelop the lot. This is because regrant pre- miums are based on the full market value of the land exclusive of the buildings thereon, and as the value of land is in all areas very high, it is only by redevelopment that the owner can obtain an economic return on his investment. In practice many owners are obliged to sell their land to land investment companies, which are able to finance the payment of the premium and the cost of redevelopment. In most cases
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