Government Conveyancing

The Legal Advisory and Conveyancing Office of the Lands Department
provides professional legal services to the government for all government
land transactions and associated matters. It is responsible for the issue,
renewal and variation of government leases as well as the drafting and
execution of conditions of sale by auction, grants and exchanges of
government land, the apportionment of government rents and premiums,
and the recovery of outstanding arrears of government rents. It provides
conveyancing services to the Housing Authority in connection with the
sale of flats under the Home Ownership Scheme and the Tenant Purchase
Scheme, The Financial Secretary Incorporated for the extension of
non-renewable leases and The Secretary for Home Affairs Incorporated
for the purchase of accommodation for welfare purposes in private
developments. It is also responsible for processing applications for the
sale of units in uncompleted buildings which are subject to the Lands
Department Consent Scheme. During the year, 10 applications involving
7 879 residential units in the urban areas were approved and in the New
Territories, 29 applications involving 20 619 residential units were
approved.

To meet the Chief Executive's target of producing not less than 85 000
flats a year, the office has commenced the contracting out to private
solicitors of work on the approval of Deeds of Mutual Covenant and has
simplified and will continue to look into other ways of simplifying the
procedures for approving Deeds of Mutual Covenant and applications for
consent to sell residential units in uncompleted developments.

Pamphlets on the main services of the office and the legal obligation of
property owners to pay government rents were published in early 1997,
and are available free of charge to the public. A hotline on consent
applications was set up in November. The public can obtain information
on developments for which consent has been issued or will be issued in
the near future.

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