Analysis of the Transitional Protection of Unregistered Equity Interests in Hong Kong—A Structural Analysis of the "New Land Priority" Proposal
Abstract
The "new land first" reform in Hong Kong has brought the newly approved land into the title registration, and the existing land continues to be subject to the deed registration, which makes the unregistered equity holders fall into the system fault. This paper aims to reveal the fault, demonstrate its unacceptability and put forward the bridging scheme. Using the method of normative analysis and comparative research, this paper criticizes from the perspective of equity and distributive justice, and takes the Land Registration Act 2002 of the United Kingdom and the advance notice registration system in the mainland as a reference. The research shows that the new land is applicable to the supporting warning letter and indemnity fund for the registration of title, and the old land only retains the fragile deed registration rules. This design violates the principle of trust protection in equity, resulting in a pattern that the reform dividend is shared by the whole people and the risk of system transformation is only borne by the unregistered owners of old land at the level of distribution justice. Accordingly, three transitional arrangements (rights and interests filing, compensation fund expansion, possession rules into culture) are proposed to provide an operational plan for the legislature.
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