As the supply of land runs out in Hong Kong's rural areas, the city's top legal experts believe the government is entitled to curtail indigenous villagers' right to cheap land under the controversial small house policy.
The policy has long been contentious and incoming chief executive Leung Chun-ying told the South China Morning Post pre-election that he intended to 'settle' the issue.
But rural powerbrokers the Heung Yee Kuk regard a provision of the city's mini-constitution, under which 'the lawful traditional rights and interests of the indigenous inhabitants of the New Territories shall be protected', as a legal guarantee of the continuation of the policy, set up by the British colonial government.
Under the small house policy, each male villager, at the age of 18, is granted the right to build a threestorey house of no more than 2,100 sq ft, either on ancestral land or on government land purchased for about two-thirds of the market value.
But the practice is widely abused, with villagers, some of whom do not live in Hong Kong, selling on their right to build the home as soon as they receive the paperwork from the government. And rural land is rapidly running out, with just one-third left of the original 4,960 hectares of land made available for small houses, according to the Development Bureau.
The Post spoke to some of the city's most knowledgable experts and law professors about the issue. All say the policy should be reviewed.
The academics also say the protection of 'traditional rights' must be understood in a historical context.