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The Lands Department has issued a Practice Note which sets out the new procedure for fast tracking the processing of second appeals relating to premium assessment for lease modification transactions.
"The new measure is introduced with an aim to shortening the development approval process," a spokesman of the Department said today (July 12).
Currently, if an applicant disagrees with the amount of revised premium offered by the Lands Department ("the offer") after the first premium appeal, he may submit a second appeal within three months from the date such an offer is rejected.
Under the new arrangement, the applicant may either submit the second appeal in the above usual way or trigger the fast track procedure by submitting a "counter offer" supported by justifications within 12 working days from the date of "the offer".
On receipt, the Lands Department will first determine whether the "counter offer" is qualified to be processed under the fast track procedure, such as whether fresh justifications are submitted.
For qualified "counter offer", the Lands Department will exchange views with the applicant/agent as soon as possible on matters relevant to the premium assessment and will invite the latter to attend the Department's Valuation Conference to elaborate justifications for his "counter offer".
After the deliberation by the Valuation Conference, another offer will be made by the Lands Department to the applicant within 24 working days from the date of receipt of the "counter offer" and the justifications.
"Although the fast track procedure is only applicable to second appeals, for those on-going cases which have passed the second appeal stage, an option will be given to the applicants once for triggering this fast track appeal procedure," the spokesman said.
"The fast track procedure will be implemented on a trial period for six months, and a review will be carried out afterwards," the spokesman added.
The new Practice Note Issue No. 5/2006 on the fast track procedure has been uploaded to the Lands Department website (www.landsd.gov.hk) for viewing by the stakeholders.
Ends/Wednesday, July 12, 2006
Issued at HKT 20:32
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