ENG-1982 — Page 174

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HOUSING AND LAND

Since June 8, 1981 under the Land Registration Ordinance, all memorials delivered to the Land Office for registration have been microfilmed. Of the 2 096 156 memorials registered before that date, 1 061 398 were microfilmed by the end of 1982. Microfilmed memorials are transferred to satellite storage and are available for search at the Land Office in microfilm form only.

A comprehensive study on the computerisation of Land Office register cards, with a view to introducing a computerised land registration system, was completed during the year. The results of this are being considered.

The Land Registration Ordinance provides that all instruments registered under it shall have priority according to their respective dates of registration. This provision applies unless they are registered within one month of execution, in which case priority generally relates back to the date of the instrument. In the case of charging orders and pending actions, priority runs from the day following the date of actual registration. The ordinance also provides that unregistered instruments, other than bona fide leases at a rack rent for any term not exceeding three years, shall be null and void as against any subsequent bona fide purchaser or mortgagee for valuable consideration. Registration is therefore essential to the protection of title, but does not guarantee it.

During the year, 165 226 instruments were registered in the Land Office, compared with 189 745 in 1981. More detailed statistics and comparisons with previous years are at Appendix 29. At the end of the year, the card index of property owners contained the names of 424 364 owners, an increase of 16 743 over the previous year. Some own several properties throughout the territory, but most are owners or part-owners of small, individual flats.

Urban Renewal and Environmental Improvement

During the year the Special Committee on Land Supply appointed a working group to study the possibilities of increasing private sector participation in land production. The group identified sites on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon and in existing new town develop- ment areas where there would be clear advantages if site formation and development were to be carried out by the private sector, and recommended that these sites should be sold as soon as possible. It was also proposed that consultants should be employed to study the concept of development corporations in the context of urban renewal, rural development and new town development. This consultancy was being set up during the year and it is envisaged that its results should be available by mid-1983.

Special importance continues to be attached to urban renewal schemes, particularly those implemented by the Hong Kong Housing Society. To assist the Housing Society with its improvement schemes, 10 properties were resumed by the government at Wun Sha Street in Tai Hang, and six properties in Ap Lei Chau Main Street. At Wun Sha Street, the society plans to build a 29-storey apartment block on a podium, with shopping and community facilities on the lower floors. A 21-storey block is proposed for Ap Lei Chau Main Street with facilities similar to the Wun Sha Street development. The roofs of the podiums will be used as gardens and children's playgrounds. Negotiations with former owners on the amount of compensation for their properties are now in progress. All eligible former occupiers are being rehoused and given ex-gratia allowances.

Environmental improvement, particularly with regard to the provision of open space, was given considerable impetus in 1982 with substantial funds being made available for the acquisition of private property zoned for open space and government, institutional and community use in the town plans for Western District, Wan Chai and Yau Ma Tei. By the