999 year leases - compilation | Gwulo: Old Hong Kong

999 year leases - compilation

Hey all,

One of my friends told me about 999 year leases last year. I looked online but couldn't find much information- even my rental agent told me that they were rare and hard to find, and located only in mid-levels. So I spent the past month doing a lot of research and compiling a list of current buildings that sit on lots with 999 year leases, and it turns out there's quite a lot of them: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/999-year_leases_in_Hong_Kong 

If you know of any others, with a verifiable source, feel free to reply and I will add it in.

Hope you find this interesting!

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I.L. 4418

999 years commencing from the 1st day of February 1855.

Demolished in 2018 and now under redevelopment with its neighbor at 20-26 Old Bailey Street.

Interestingly, all the Conduit Road Inland Lots listed are on the harbour/northern side of the road (buildings with even nos). Presumably this is because these Lots were established when Robinson Road was being developed, pre-1898? Lots on the other side (buildings with odd nos) were however not developed until post-1898, eg Marble Hall.

Ian

Added- thank you!

Hey Ian,

Very interesting insight- I didn't know about that. If I do happen in the future to find an odd numbered address on Conduit Road with a 999 year lease, I'll be sure to let you know!

Thank you for compiling the list. I am one of the owners of Hong Fook Building - it is on the corner of Kennedy Street and Lung On Street in Wan Chai ( postal address is - 11,11A Kennedy St 15, Lung On Street). It has 999 year lease! You might like to add this to your list

Hey Antony,

Thanks for the info, I just added it in. Interestingly, the Street Index does not list any name for your building, while Geoinfo lists the Chinese name (康福樓). Now I wonder if their databases aren't synchronized! Anyway, would you happen to have I.L. 1094's details, such as commencement date?

Edit- One other interesting thing is that Google Maps displays your building completely wrong, as it shows your building as being built "on top" of Kennedy Street's actual road. I believe you can use the "Suggest an Edit" feature on Google Maps to have their team correct this and place the building correctly.

Thanks again!

 

This is really interesting information - thank you!

Of course, whether 999-year leases will have any value when "interpreted" by the Communist Party is becoming an issue sooner than we might have expected.

Another one to add to the list  (I have the Title Deed) which is I.L.237 and I.L.237A....being 28-30 Tung Street in Central and Western District (Sheung Wan). 999 Years from 31/08/1844

Added in- thank you!