Conveyancing / Tenancy / Land B20_JanMar2026_OUP_bloom_hart_GLB_HKU

Land Administration and Practice in Hong Kong, 5th Edition

By Roger Nissim
Hong Kong University Press December 2021

Specifications

ISBN-13
9789888754069
Publisher
Hong Kong University Press
Publication
December 2021
Format
Paperback , 240 pages
Jurisdiction
Hong Kong ? Countri(es) for reference only

Details

The purpose of this book is to explain both the historical context and current practices of land administration in Hong Kong. Although Hong Kong has an open and business-friendly environment, it is underpinned by a socialist leasehold land tenure system. The government is landlord to virtually all land and so it plays a pivotal role in the administration of this scare, and therefore, valuable resource.

As land administration is governed by private contract law rather than legislation, it is constantly evolving with the courts handing down significant decisions on a regular basis. Government practice has to respond to this, as well as the community’s concern on how best land can be administered. The fifth edition has some substantial and important updates which should continue to be useful to both students and practitioners of surveying, architecture, planning and law, as well as the wider business and financial community.

Table of Contents

Content

Preface to the Second Edition 
Preface to the First Edition 
Introduction 

Section I.  Historical Development of Land Administration 
1.  The First Land Sales, 1841–1842 
2.  The Early Years, 1843–1898 
3.  1898 Onwards — The New Territories Lease 
4.  The Sino-British Joint Declaration 1984 and Basic Law 1990 
5.  Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government 

Section II.  Present-Day Land Administration 
6.  Economic Background and Land Needs 
7.  Lands Department Functions Under Administrative Law 
8.  Land Exchange and Lease Modifi cations 
9.  Development Control in Older Lease Conditions 
10.  Access Arrangements and Rights of Way 
11.  Town Planning Controls and Development Restrictions in Lease Conditions 
12.  Land Management and Lease Enforcement 

Section III.  Land Administration Problems and Practice Associated With the New Territories 
13.  Land Exchange Entitlements (Also Known as Letters A/B) 
14.  Small House Policy (丁屋) and the 300-Foot Rule 
15.  Limitations Ordinance and Adverse Possession 
16.  Tsos and Tongs and Their Impact on Land Assembly 
17.  Succession 
18.  Fung Shui ( 風水) and Graves 
19.  Boundary Disputes, Missing Lots and Missing Documents 

Section IV.  Future Developments in Land Administration 
20.  How Planning and Land Policy Could Be Used to Enhance Conservation in Hong Kong 
21.  The Land Titles Ordinance 2004 

Appendices 
Glossary 
Bibliography 
Index

About the Author

Roger Nissim, FRICS FHKIS RPS, became chartered in 1968 and practised as a surveyor in England before coming to Hong Kong in 1973. For twenty years he worked in the Lands Department of the Hong Kong government before joining a leading local property developer. From 2007 until 2018, he was an adjunct professor in the Department of Real Estate and Construction at the University of Hong Kong. In 2020, his case study textbook, The First Estates: The Story of Fairview Park and Hong Lok Yuen with Documents, was also published by Hong Kong University Press.

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