Change in Use of Land : a Practical Guide to Development in Hong Kong

Provides an account of the concept of the use and change in use of land, and an outline of the procedures for lease modifications and waivers, planning applications, reviews and appeals, and building applications and approvals. It also includes an overview of government enforcement against contravention of lease conditions, provisions of statutory town plans prepared under the Town Planning Ordinance, and provisions of the Buildings Ordinance -- Back cover. The major difficulties facing professionals in real estate development in Hong Kong involve the use and development intensity of land, the complicated procedures and the mass of building laws. This book is a guide to tackling these difficulties. It provides an account of the concept of the use and change in use of land; followed by an outline of the procedures for lease modifications and waivers, planning applications, reviews and appeals, and building applications and appeals. It also includes an overview of government enforcement against contravention of lease conditions; provisions of statutory town plans prepared under the Town Planning Ordinance; and provisions of the Buildings Ordinance. A number of problems based on real life scenarios are offered. They can help developers avoid litigation with and complaints against government due to ignorance of the relevant institutional, procedural and policy arrangements. For practitioners and policy analysts, the detailed appendices in this book provide vital statistical information on both aggregate and non-aggregate development applications. They enable better appreciation of the chance of success of applications for specific uses, locations or sizes of development on a zone-by-zone basis in the light of refutable hypotheses. This second edition has updated the law and planning statistics notably the amendment to the Town Planning Ordinance in 2005, which broadens public participation and establishes a procedure for rezoning applications, and brought all essential planning application and approval/rejection statistics updated to September 2008 by class of zone by area. The common law cases relating to development approvals involved have also been updated. There has been no comparable/rival book or article that has depicted the development approval procedures involving the lands, planning and building procedures with reference to scholarly research so clearly Front Matter Table of Contents PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION 1 THE IMPORTANCE OF USE AND CHANGE IN USE 2 DUAL DEVELOPMENT CONTROL UNDER THE LAND LEASE AND STATUTORY TOWN PLAN 3 WHAT IS A USE? 4 CHANGE IN USE AND DEVELOPMENT CONTROL UNDER THE LAND LEASE, TOWN PLANS AND THE BUILDINGS ORDINANCE 5 THE NEED FOR MAKING A PLANNING APPLICATION TO ENABLE A CHANGE IN USE UNDER THE TOWN PLANNING ORDINANCE 6 ‘TEMPORARY USES’ AND ‘EXISTING USES’ ON PRIVATE LAND UNDER A STATUTORY TOWN PLAN 7 THE POSSIBILITY OF MAKING A PLANNING APPLICATION AND STEPS IN CHECKING WHETHER A USE REQUIRES PLANNING PERMISSION 8 THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG LEASE MODIFICATIONS, PLANNING PERMISSIONS AND BUILDING PERMISSIONS IN THE DEVELOPMENT CYCLE 9 PLANNING APPLICATIONS, REVIEWS AND APPEALS 10 LEASE MODIFICATIONS AND WAIVERS 11 BUILDING APPLICATIONS AND APPEALS 12 ENFORCEMENT OF LEASES, TOWN PLANNING ORDINANCE AND BUILDINGS ORDINANCE 13 DEVELOPMENT BLIGHT 14 INFORMATION REGARDING LEASES, STATUTORY TOWN PLANS, AND BUILDING PLANS 15 PROBLEM SETS APPENDIX 1: TOWN PLANNING BOARD GUIDELINES (AS AT 10 AUGUST 2009) APPENDIX 2: AGGREGATE STATISTICS REGARDING PLANNING APPLICATIONS 1975–2008 APPENDIX 3: PROBIT AND LOGIT ESTIMATES OF NON-AGGREGATE STATISTICS REGARDING PLANNING APPLICATIONS REFERENCES INDEX