ENG-1983 — Page 180

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

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the applicable town planning requirements. A premium - equivalent to the difference in land value between the development permitted under the existing lease and that permissible under the new lease terms - is normally payable for any modification granted.

A premium is also payable where a lot held on an expiring non-renewable 75 year lease is regranted to the former owners. Special arrangements have been introduced to deal with expired leases where the ownership is divided among a number of owners. In the case of the owners of property, the leases of which give them the option to renew the lease for a further term, the Crown Leases Ordinance came into effect in 1973 to impose a new Crown rent related to the rateable value of the property situated on the lot.

Land Office

The issue, renewal, variation and termination of Crown leases are dealt with by the Land Office, a division of the Registrar General's Department. Records of transactions relating to land on Hong Kong Island, in Kowloon, New Kowloon (with a few exceptions) and some of the urban areas of the New Territories are kept at the Land Office. Records relating to transactions affecting the remainder of the New Territories and a few exceptional New Kowloon lots are kept at district land offices, most of which are at present operated by the Lands Department. The Registrar General's Department is assuming responsibility for land registration throughout the New Territories under a phased programme: the district land offices at Tsuen Wan and Yuen Long were taken over in 1982 and at Sha Tin in 1983. The Land Office has responsibility for the registration of all instruments affecting land; the drafting, completion and registration of conditions of sale, grant and exchange of Crown land; the granting of mining leases; the registration of owners' corporations; the apportion- ment of Crown rents and premia; the recovery of outstanding Crown rents; and the provision of conveyancing services for the Housing Authority in connection with the sale of flats built under the Home Ownership Scheme and for the Colonial Treasurer Incorporated in connection with regrants, interest-free loans to schools and the purchase of properties for government staff quarters and homes for the elderly. The Land Office gives legal and other advice to the government on matters relating to land and government land transactions.

Since June 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, 1 575 078 were microfilmed by the end of 1983. They are transferred to satellite storage available for search at the Land Office in microfilm form only.

Work on the computerisation of Land Office register cards, with a view to introducing a computerised land registration system, progressed as scheduled during the year following the design of the computerised system at the end of 1982 and the allocation of funds for the project.

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 mortgages for valuable consideration. Registration is therefore essential to the protection of title, but does not guarantee it.

During the year, 160 383 instruments were registered at the Land Office, compared with 165 226 in 1982. Detailed statistics are at Appendix 29. At the end of the year, the card

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