A critical analysis of speculative developments under New Territories small house policy

Abstract

New Territories Small House Policy allows the indigenous villagers from the recognized village to apply for permission to erect a small house once in a lifetime. The policy has been implemented for 50 years. Throughout these years, the policy has been criticized for various drawbacks caused, among which speculative developments is viewed as one of the most severe problems associated with the policy. In this study, speculative developments refer to the indigenous villagers’ acts to profit from their eligibility to erect small houses. It is found that the disposal of indigenous villagers’ ding rights to third parties has been noticed since the official review of the policy by the Audit Commission in 1987. However, only a few amendments to the policy were made. The conviction of parties involved in a conspiracy to defraud the Government in small house grants has aroused heated public concern on this issue once again. While the Lands Department takes the overall role of administering the small house applications, whether the Government is doing an effective work against the speculative developments is questionable. This dissertation aims at evaluating the effectiveness of government control over speculative developments. To achieve the research aim, both primary and secondary data are collected. Literature review and legal research were conducted to acquire background information and factual matters concerning this topic. The questionnaire and interview facilitate the understanding of public expectations as well as indigenous villagers’ experience on this issue. The study concludes that the current enforcement work by the Government is inefficient and ineffective in combatting speculative developments, substantiated by the systematic abuse by non-indigenous parties. Some loopholes of the policy are found, including the lack of enforcement actions and deterrent effect against speculative developments. Therefore, at the last part of the dissertation, both short-term and long-term solutions addressing the loopholes in the current practice are recommended. It is hoped that the findings and recommendations in this research can provide insights for the Government to address the issue concerned. Small House Policy could be reviewed comprehensively such that the land utilization in the New Territories can be maximized, which will benefit the public and the sustainable developments of Hong Kong.