23Transfers and subleases

23 Transfers and subleases

23 Transfers and subleases

(1)

(a) A lease under this Part may be transferred in the prescribed form and manner as to the whole or a part of the land comprised in the lease or may be sublet at any time, but the consideration for the transfer shall not exceed the fair market value of the interest of the transferor in the unimproved land the subject of the lease, the fair market value of the improvements on the land at the commencement of the lease and of any improvements subsequently effected thereon with the approval of the Board and, in the case only of a lease of land used for commercial purposes, a sum for the goodwill of the business conducted thereon, being goodwill transferred to the transferee in connection with the transfer of the lease or accruing to the transferee in consequence thereof. Such fair market values and, as the case may require, such sum for goodwill shall be as determined by the Valuer-General.

(b) Notwithstanding anything in paragraph (a), a lease shall not be transferred, by way of mortgage or discharge of mortgage, as to part only of the land comprised in the lease.

(1A) A lease may be transferred or subleased to 2 or more persons as joint tenants or tenants in common but, for the purposes of any transfer or sublease to 2 or more persons who are not all Islanders, a reference in this Part (however expressed) to a person other than an Islander applies in respect of each transferee or sublessee who is not an Islander.

(2) Application for consent to transfer, except—

(a) by way of discharge of mortgage, or

(b) to the Board by way of mortgage as security for an advance under section 12A,

or to sublet a lease under this Act shall be made in the prescribed form and manner, and such transfer or subletting shall not be effected, or if effected shall not be valid, unless the consent thereto of the Minister and, in the case of a transfer (not being a transfer by way of mortgage) or subletting to a person other than an Islander, the approval of the Governor, has been obtained.

(3) The Minister may consent to the transfer (not being a transfer referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) of subsection (2)) or subletting if the Board so recommends, or the Minister may at his or her discretion refuse consent.

(4) The Board shall have an absolute discretion to recommend the granting or refusal of any application for consent under this section, but shall not recommend the granting of consent to a transfer or subletting to any person other than an Islander unless satisfied that there is no Islander who desires and is in a position to take a transfer or sublease, as the case may be, of the lease.