1.
The present case concerns an appeal by the Appellant against the decision of the Respondent in refusing to grant exemption from rating assessment of a tenement on land held by him and his brothers under Government Land Licence S12017 (“the Government Land Licence”) situate in Demarcation District (“DD”) 217, off Hiram’s Highway, Tai Chung Hau, Sai Kung in the New Territories (hereinafter referred to as “the Tenement”).
2.
Under the Rating Ordinance (which is hereinafter referred to as “the Ordinance”), the unit of assessment is the tenement. Section 2 defines a "tenement" as
" ... any land (including land covered with water) or any building, structure, or part thereof which is held or occupied as a distinct or separate tenancy or holding or under any licence;"
3.
It is undisputed that the Appellant’s father held the Government Land Licence (which was formerly called “Crown Land Licence” prior to the reversion of the sovereignty of Hong Kong to the People’s Republic of China in 1997) in the 60s of the last century. Then a wooden dwelling and temporary structures were built when the Appellant’s father rented also the adjacent land, ie Lot 929 and Lot 934 sB in DD 217 (“the Two Adjacent Lots”) for farming. According to the Appellant, his father’s communication with the landlord of the Two Adjacent Lots ceased in late 1980s but he continued the occupation paying no rent to anybody.
4.
On 5 March 1992, the Appellant’s father passed away. On 9 August 1994, the Government re-issued the Government Land Licence to the Appellant and his two brothers, Mr Law Yuk Kin and Mr Law Tin Tak for the purpose of accommodating “Kitchen, Porch, Storage, latrine, Well, Cemented Yard and Cultivation.”
5.
According to the Appellant, he and his mother jointly occupied the Adjacent Lots for farming. Later on 1 March 1996, the Appellant tried to run a Pei Pa
[1]
orchard on the Two Adjacent Lots. Then he, being the proprietor of Law Zhe Enterprise, applied to the Inland Revenue Department (“IRD”) for exemption from business registration under section 16 of the Business Registration Ordinance, Cap 310 which states, inter alia, that agriculture including market gardening would be exempted from business registration unless the business is run by a company incorporated in Hong Kong.
6.
Again, according to the Appellant, since May 2013 after his retirement from the Buildings Department as Chief Structural Engineer, in parallel with the farming business, he ran an additional sole proprietorship company, Messrs Law & Yung, for working part-time as an engineering consultant, based in the urban area
[2]
, ie away from the Tenement or the Two Adjacent Lots. In November 2018, the Appellant had the main branch of this sole proprietorship company mov
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