An Ordinance to provide for the termination of the Block Crown Lease of Cheung Chau granted to Wong Wai Tsak Tong and for sub-lessees under the Block Crown Lease to hold directly from the Government.
(Amended 29 of 1998 s. 91)
[8 September 1995] L.N. 408 of 1995
(Format changes—E.R. 6 of 2021)
(Enacting provision omitted—E.R. 6 of 2021)
(Amended E.R. 6 of 2021)
This Ordinance may be cited as the Government Lease (Cheung Chau) Ordinance. (Amended 31 of 2025 s. 127)
(Omitted as spent—E.R. 6 of 2021)
In this Ordinance, unless the context otherwise requires—
Lease (土地租契) means the Block Crown Lease of the survey district Cheung Chau dated 18 March 1905 and made in favour of Wong Wai Tsak Tong, whereby certain lots in Cheung Chau were demised, and includes grants of lots in favour of Wong Wai Tsak Tong made after 18 March 1905 and other grants of lots made after that date which have been assigned to Wong Wai Tsak Tong; (Amended 31 of 2025 s. 128) land (土地) means a lot or lots, or part or parts thereof; lot (地段) means a piece or parcel of ground demised under the Lease or granted after 18 March 1905, whether upon the surrender of old lots under the Lease or not, and identified by a lot number in the Land Registry; (Amended 31 of 2025 s. 128) sub-lease (分租契) means a sub-lease granted by Wong Wai Tsak Tong which has been registered in the Land Registry before the commencement* of this Ordinance of land or undivided shares in land held under the Lease for a term of years specified in the sub-lease and renewable on the same terms until the termination of the Lease, whether renewed or not, and includes such a sub-lease which has been assigned in whole or in part or has been retained in part following an assignment and which assignment has been registered in the Land Registry before the commencement of this Ordinance; (Amended 31 of 2025 s. 128) sub-lessee (分租契承租人) means a person who is the sub-lessee in a sub-lease, his executor, administrator and assign; undivided shares in land (土地的不分割份數) includes the entitlement to exclusive possession of premises attached to the entitlement to the undivided shares.(Amended 31 of 2025 s. 129)
Upon this Ordinance coming into operation* as provided by section 1(2), the Lease granted to Wong Wai Tsak Tong is terminated.
(Amended 31 of 2025 s. 129)
(Amended 31 of 2025 s. 130)
As from the commencement* of this Ordinance, all sub-lessees, other than the sub-lessees of the sub-leases referred to in section 9(1), are deemed to hold the land or undivided shares in land to which they are respectively entitled under the sub-leases directly from the Government as Government lessees.
As from the expiration of the current term of a new sub-lease deemed to be granted under section 9(2), the sub-lessee is deemed to hold the land or undivided shares in land to which he is entitled under the new sub-lease directly from the Government as Government lessee or lessee.
(Amended 29 of 1998 s. 92)
(Amended 31 of 2025 s. 131)
As from the commencement* of this Ordinance, all sub-leases, other than the sub-leases referred to in section 9(1), are—
deemed Government leases as if a separate Government lease has been granted as from that date in place of each sub-lease to each sub-lessee respectively for the residue of the term of the Lease as renewed under the New Territories (Renewable Government Leases) Ordinance (Cap. 152) and extended under the New Territories Leases (Extension) Ordinance (Cap. 150) and shall be deemed to contain— (Amended 31 of 2025 s. 131)
the same covenants, exceptions, reservations, powers and conditions contained in the Lease, so far as they are applicable, provided that the sub-lessee who is deemed to be the Government lessee under section 4(1) shall replace Wong Wai Tsak Tong as the party bound;
without prejudice to subparagraph (i), a covenant by the sub-lessee who is deemed to be the Government lessee under section 4(1) to pay directly to the Government in the same manner and on the same days as specified in the Lease the Government rent applicable under section 7(1) and to pay the rent applicable under section 7(2); and (Amended 31 of 2025 s. 131)
extended, from the date on which each sub-lease would, apart from this Ordinance, expire, until the expiry of 30 June 2047, without payment of any additional premium.
As from the date immediately after the expiry of the current term of a new sub-lease deemed to be granted under section 9(2), the new sub-lease is deemed to be a direct lease from the Government as if a lease had been granted by the Government to the sub-lessee as from that date until the expiry of 30 June 2047 in place of the new sub-lease and the direct lease is deemed to contain—
the same covenants, exceptions, reservations, powers and conditions contained in the separate Government lease deemed to have been granted to Wong Wai Tsak Tong under section 6, so far as they are applicable, provided that the sub-lessee who is deemed to be the lessee under section 4(2) shall replace Wong Wai Tsak Tong as the party bound;
without prejudice to paragraph (a), a covenant by the sub-lessee who is deemed to be the lessee under section 4(2) to pay directly to the Government the rent applicable under section 7.
A sub-lease which is deemed to be a Government lease under subsection (1) and the Government lease deemed to be granted to Wong Wai Tsak Tong under section 6 are Government leases for all purposes.
A new sub-lease which is deemed to be a direct lease from the Government under subsection (2) is, for all purposes, a lease granted directly by the Government.
(Amended 29 of 1998 s. 93)
A separate Government lease of all the land or undivided shares in land held by Wong Wai Tsak Tong under the Lease but in respect of which sections 4(1) and 5(1) have no effect is, on the commencement* of this Ordinance, deemed to have been granted to Wong Wai Tsak Tong as from that date as Government lessee for the residue of the term of the Lease as renewed under the New Territories (Renewable Government Leases) Ordinance (Cap. 152) and extended under the New Territories Leases (Extension) Ordinance (Cap. 150) and that Government lease contains the same covenants, exceptions, reservations, powers and conditions contained in the Lease, so far as applicable. (Amended 31 of 2025 s. 132)
As from the date of the deeming, under section 5(2), of a new sub-lease referred to in section 9(2) to be a direct lease from the Government, the land or undivided shares in land held under the separate Government lease deemed to have been granted to Wong Wai Tsak Tong under subsection (1) to which the deemed direct lease relates are deemed to have been surrendered to the Government, and the separate Government lease is deemed to have been modified to exclude that land or those undivided shares in land.
(Amended 29 of 1998 s. 94)
Government rent payable for the period until 30 June 1997 for a sub-lease deemed to be a Government lease under section 5(1) or for the Government lease deemed to have been granted to Wong Wai Tsak Tong under section 6(1) is, in respect of the land or undivided shares in land, the subject of the deemed Government lease or the Government lease deemed to have been granted, in the amount specified in the Lease in respect of the land or undivided shares in land. (Amended 31 of 2025 s. 133)
Rent payable to the Government for the period from 1 July 1997 to 30 June 2047 for a sub-lease deemed to be a Government lease under section 5(1), for a new sub-lease under section 9(2) deemed to be a direct lease under section 5(2), or for the Government lease deemed to have been granted to Wong Wai Tsak Tong under section 6(1) is, in respect of the land or undivided shares in land, the subject of the deemed Government lease, the deemed direct lease or the Government lease deemed to have been granted, an amount equivalent to 3% of the rateable value from time to time of the land or undivided shares in land.
(Amended 29 of 1998 s. 95)
Every new Government lease or direct lease deemed to have been granted under sections 5 and 6 and the land thereby deemed to be demised shall be subject to such of the following encumbrances and interests as the land and the sub-lease, the new sub-lease under section 9(2) and the Lease relating thereto were subject to immediately before this Ordinance comes into operation*— (Amended 29 of 1998 s. 96; 31 of 2025 s. 134)
any mortgage or charge, whether legal or equitable, and whether registered in a Land Registry register or not;
any public rights; and
any other rights, easements, tenancies or other burdens or encumbrances of whatsoever kind or nature, except such as were created by instrument and were not thereby expressed to continue after the date this Ordinance comes into operation.
Sections 4(1) and 5(1) do not apply to a sub-lease which by agreement between Wong Wai Tsak Tong and the sub-lessee has been granted or renewed for any period extending beyond 9 November 1994 and under which agreement the Tong and the sub-lessee have agreed on the amount of rent payable to the Tong under the sub-lease after 30 June 1997.
A sub-lessee under a sub-lease referred to in subsection (1) is deemed, immediately on the date of the deemed granting of a separate Government lease to Wong Wai Tsak Tong under section 6(1), to be granted by Wong Wai Tsak Tong a new sub-lease as from that date for the residue of the term of that sub-lease on the same terms and conditions as the sub-lease referred to in subsection (1). (Amended 29 of 1998 s. 96)
Wong Wai Tsak Tong is entitled to claim compensation under this section—
for the termination of the Lease under section 3 in respect of the land or undivided shares in land in respect of which sections 4(1) and 5(1) have effect; and (Amended 31 of 2025 s. 135)
for the deemed surrender of the land or undivided shares in land under section 6(2),
and the amount of compensation is to be determined in accordance with sections 10, 11 and 12 of the Lands Resumption Ordinance (Cap. 124) as if the land or undivided shares in land were resumed under that Ordinance on the commencement* of this Ordinance or on the date of the deemed surrender under section 6(2), as the case may be.
Wong Wai Tsak Tong shall, within 12 months from the commencement of this Ordinance, submit a claim to the Lands Tribunal for determination of the amount of compensation (if any) to be paid to Wong Wai Tsak Tong under subsection (1).
Subject to this section, no action or suit lies against the Government or against any other person for any loss or damage suffered by any person as a result of the termination of the Lease or any other matter under this Ordinance. (Amended 31 of 2025 s. 135)
Part III of the Lands Tribunal Rules (Cap. 17 sub. leg. A) and the relevant Forms in the Schedule to those Rules apply, with any necessary modifications and adaptations, to a claim for compensation by Wong Wai Tsak Tong under subsection (2) as if the claim were a claim under section 8(2) of the Lands Resumption Ordinance (Cap. 124). (Amended E.R. 6 of 2021)
(Amended 29 of 1998 s. 97)
(Omitted as spent—E.R. 6 of 2021)