ENG-1955 — Page 93

Chapter 7: Production

LAND TENURE

All land in the Colony is held on leasehold tenure granted by the Crown. With one or two rare exceptions, such as some of the existing holdings of the naval and military authorities and the precinct of St. John's Cathedral, there is no freehold tenure.

In the early days of the Colony, leases were granted for 75, 99 or 999 years. The present practice is for leases to be granted for 75 years, renewable for a further 75 years at a re-assessed Crown rent. In the New Territories, in order to coincide with the period of the lease from China, which will expire on 30 June 1997, Crown leases are con- ventionally expressed as being for the residue of a term of 75 years from 1 July 1898, renewable for a further 24 years, less the last three days.

Land administration in Hong Kong and Kowloon is the responsibility of the Director of Public Works, who is concurrently the Building Authority. The Director also controls New Kowloon, which is that part of the New Territories situated immediately north of Boundary Street, Kowloon, and south of the Kowloon hills. The District Commissioner, New Territories, is responsible for land administration throughout the rest of the New Territories. Records of land grants by the Crown and of all private land transactions are kept in the Registrar-General's Department (see under Law and Order) for Hong Kong and Kowloon, and in the three District Offices, situated in Kowloon, Taipo and Ping Shan, for the whole of the New Territories, with the exception of certain lots which are administered by the Director of Public Works and are usually known as Inland Lots. These cover a large part of New Kowloon. Deeds relating to these are recorded in the Registrar-General's Department.

In recent years, certain groups of the 75-year Crown leases granted in the Colony's early years, and chiefly affecting land in Kowloon, have reached their expiry dates. Public statements of Government policy in regard to the terms and conditions under which new Crown leases would