ENG-1992 — Page 239

LAND, PUBLIC WORKS AND UTILITIES

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essential particulars of the instrument which are then placed on a computerised (except in the New Territories District Land Registries) register relating to the particular piece of land or individual premises affected, such as residential flats, shops, and commercial and industrial premises. The registers provide a complete picture of the title to each property from the grant of the government lease. They are available for search by the public on payment of a small fee. The memorials and a complete copy of each registered instrument are kept and are also available for search in microfilm form (except in the New Territories District Land Registries) by the public on payment of a fee.

The ordinance also provides that all instruments registered under it shall have priority according to their respective dates of registration, unless they are registered within one month of execution, in which case priority relates back to the date of the instrument. For charging orders made by the court and pending court actions, priority runs from the day following the date of registration. The ordinance further provides that unregistered instruments, other than bona fide leases at a rack rent for a 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. Approval in principle has been given by the government to investigate the merits of changing the present system of land registration to one of title registration. A working _party chaired by the Registrar General and comprising prominent members of the legal profession was set up and has made its report. Legislative amendments based on the report are being put in place.

The records of transactions effecting land on Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Kowloon and some of the urban areas of the New Territories are kept at the Land Office, Victoria. Those relating to transactions affecting land in the remainder of the New Territories are kept in the appropriate District Land Registries in the New Territories. Before any land transaction is completed a land search to ascertain property ownership should always be made. During the year, 3 207 280 such public land searches were made and 685 136 instruments registered throughout the territory, compared with 3 168 942 and 823 842 respectively in 1991. At the end of the year, there were 1 505 003 property owners, an increase of 57 612 over the previous year.

On December 1, 1992 the Legal Advisory and Conveyancing Section of the Land Division of the Registrar General's Department was transferred to the Buildings and Lands Department to form a new Legal Advisory and Conveyancing Office within the department. This office provides professional legal services to the government for all government land transactions and associated matters. It is responsible for the issue, renewal, variation and termination of government leases as well as the drafting and completion of conditions of sale, grants and exchanges of government lands, the apportionment of government rents and premia, and the recovery of outstanding rents. It also provides conveyancing services for the Housing Authority in connection with the sale of flats built under the Home Ownership Scheme and for The Financial Secretary Incorporated in connection with the extension of non-renewable government leases, the purchase and sale of government accommodation in private developments, mortgages to secure interest-free loans to private schools, the purchase of properties for government staff quarters and group housing schemes for the elderly. It is also responsible for the processing of the Consent Applications which are governed by the rules of the Land Authority