Registrar-Generals-Department-Annual-report-1964-1965 — Page 10

enacted empowering the Building Authority to prohibit building works which in his opinion could not be undertaken without endangering the stability of other buildings in the vicinity. This Ordinance was passed to cope with the situation existing in many of the older parts of the Colony where houses in a row of buildings have deteriorated to such an extent that each is virtually holding up and held up by its neighbours, and if one is demolished for redevelopment the neighbouring ones imme- diately become dangerous and require demolition with a chain reaction along the whole row. Even where the neighbouring houses are not them- selves unsound, with the emphasis on high buildings heavy piling is usually required on a redevelopment site, and this may cause severe damage to the next-door houses or even those across the street. While to some owners of neighbouring houses the closing of their properties as dangerous was not unwelcome as enabling them to get vacant pos- session without the necessity of applying to a Tenancy Tribunal for an exclusion order, the effect upon their tenants was disastrous, and the rehousing of the occupants of dangerous buildings had developed into a major problem. The passing of the Ordinance led to the suspension of piling on many sites-under his new powers the Building Authority by mid-December disapproved plans or refused consent to start work on 283 cases, and to the postponement of many projects in areas where the new powers of the Buildings Ordinance were likely to be applied. The tying up of large sums of money on such sites and projects- it should be remembered that the cost of the land is often in excess of the cost of construction caused consternation in real estate circles and on 16th December a direction was given to the Slum Clearance Committee, which had been appointed in September 1964, to give priority to examining the effects of the new Ordinance and to make recommenda- tions on the problems which had arisen. This Committee, of which the Registrar General is a member, had held nineteen meetings by the end of the year.

9. The difficulties of real estate developers were not confined to the effects of the Buildings (Amendment) (No. 2) Ordinance 1964. The situation with respect to high-cost flats, the market for which had been saturated in 1963-64 became even worse in 1964-65, and not only were sales very slow but rents were down in some cases 20% to 30%. There were also thousands of empty flats in the lower price brackets, and instead of purchasers flocking as in former years to pay for flats prior to completion or even prior to commencement of construction, sellers

4

Page 10Page 11

ļ