Summary
Professor Roger Nissim is a chartered surveyor and an accredited general mediator. He worked in the Lands Department of the Hong Kong Government for over 20 years and then 15 years in the private sector. He is a highly respected expert in land administration in Hong Kong.
In his speech, as an introduction Professor Nissim used the well-known arbitration case of Taikoo Shing between Swire Properties and the Hong Kong Government to illustrate that arbitration could be very costly. Professor Nissim believed that arbitration could be a feasible solution to resolve arguments between developers and the Hong Kong government about premium assessment. However, he felt that developers might not all embrace the idea of arbitration mechanism because, if they seek such arbitration, they must commit themselves to accepting the decisions of arbitration as final and they could not withdraw from the process once it has been started.
Professor Nissim also pointed out that the premium assessment mechanism used by the Hong Kong government under the current land administration practice was unfavourable to applicants. This is because the government does not take into account a number of costs incurred by an applicant in order to achieve vacant possession of the site concerned, including costs of acquisition of properties in the building on the site, compensation for tenants and demolition costs. He said that if the government would include these costs in the premium assessment, it would already help speed up the land premium negotiation significantly.
Professor Nissim went on to suggest that in cases where there were no legal disputes and the difference was purely on the premium figure then as an alternative to the more formal, time consuming and expensive arbitration process consideration could be given to establishing an Expert Determination Panel, set up jointly by HKIS and RICS, from which three independent neutral valuers would be chosen for each case. Each party to nominate one valuer and both parties to agree on the third member. Costs to be shared equally between the parties with the understanding that both parties would accept the outcome although such understanding may not be legally enforceable. This methodology may be more attractive to the developers.
SDA Dinner Talk
Date︰
29 May 2014
Speaker︰
Roger Nissim, Adjunct Professor,
Department of Real Estate & Construction, The University of Hong Kong
Topic of speech︰
Arbitration on Land Premium – will it work?
Venue︰
The CGCC Members Club, 6/F Chamber’s Building, 24-25 Connaught Road, Central, Hong Kong
