99-year lease
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A 99-year lease was, under historic common law, the longest possible term of a lease of real property. It is no longer the law in most common law jurisdictions today, yet 99-year leases continue to be common as a matter of business practice and conventional wisdom.
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The law
Under the traditional United States common law doctrine, the 99-year term was not literal, but merely an arbitrary time span beyond the life expectancy of any possible lessee or lessor.[1] [2]
In the law of several US states, a 99-year lease continues to be the longest possible contract for realty by statute, but many have enacted shorter terms and some allow infinite terms.[3]
Interestingly, the 99-year lease concept has been more common under the civil law regimes when it comes to concessions of territory: most concessions last for 99 years.
Historic examples
The United Kingdom famously had a 99-year lease, or Concession, to Hong Kong New Territories from China from 9 June 1898 to 1 July 1997.[4] The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base started as a 99-year lease in 1903 from the first president of Cuba to the United States.[5] The Lend-Lease program of the 1940 was enabled by 99-year lease of British bases on several islands.
Current examples
The Salvador Dali Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida secured a 99-year lease in 2007.[6] The city of Riverton, Wyoming will be leasing land for 99 years, starting in 2008, to the Federal government for a Job Corps site.[7] [8] [9] [10]
References
- ↑ Mortgage News Daily web site article on a 99-year lease. Accessed February 20, 2008.
- ↑ Cecil Adams, Why are leases made for 99-year terms?, 22 July 1977, found at The Straight Dope article on 99-year lease. Accessed February 20, 2008.
- ↑ Law Office of James Kaklamanos web site page on 99-year lease. Accessed February 20, 2008.
- ↑ "British History Timeline". BBC (2005). Retrieved on 2008-02-21.
- ↑ Olga Miranda Bravo, Vecinos Indeseables: La Base Yanqui en Guantánamo (La Habana: Editorial Ciencias Sociales, 1998).
- ↑ Donna Winchester, Dali Museum gets 99-year lease: Its new building will go up on St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront, St. Petersburg Times, November 30, 2007. Found at Dali Museum gets 99-year lease article from St. Petersburg Times. Accessed February 20, 2008.
- ↑ Associated Press, Wyoming:Riverton, found at USA Today, February 22, 2008, p. 9A.
- ↑ KTAK/KVOW, Enzi visits Riverton, found at Riverton. Accessed February 22, 2008. (Verifies the Job Corps lease, but not the 99-year term.)
- ↑ Federal register Vol. 72, No. 238, p. 70615, December 12, 2007, found at Federal Register on line, US government web site. Accessed February 22, 2008.
- ↑ EPA, Job Corps: Preliminary Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) for the Proposed Job Corps Training Center Located at 4000 Airport Road Approximately Two Miles Northwest of Riverton, WY, December 12, 2007, found at US EPA government web site. Accessed February 22, 2008.
