Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Recently I've been advised by a few people in the Nahendeh riding that they have purchased lots that were equity leases, but once they purchased them, they became regular lease lots. This doesn't seem fair, especially since the department is now working forward on equity lease lots in the Northwest Territories. My questions are for the Minister of Lands: can the Minister explain why the department doesn't honour the original equity lease agreements until this issue is being resolved? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Masi. Minister of Lands.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The equity leases are contracts that the department is managing and administering in accordance with the lease terms and conditions. If an existing equity lease expires, the department places the lessee in what is known as an overholding tenancy, and so, if the equity portion is paid, the annual lease would be $1 per year. The department is bound by the terms of the lease, and we are allowing the lessee to go into an overholding position. Thank you.
I was asking the questions: when the person has an equity lease and sells it to somebody else, what happens there? Why aren't we just turning it over to an equity lease? My next question here is: with leases that are being switched to Commissioner's or NWT lands, what happens to the equity that the previous landowners had on these leases?
Essentially an equity lease can be assigned to a new lessee, but we are not currently issuing any new equity leases. If a person has an equity lease, and it has a term to it, that equity lease is assigned. The new lessee would take over that lease and be bound by the terms and conditions. As I say, we are not granting new equity leases.
We are not talking about a new equity lease; we are talking about an existing one. That is a concern. When somebody purchases a lot, there is equity into this lot. Can the Minister advise us what happens to the equity leases, and why does the equity that they have into it not return back to the original owner?
If the lease, again, is assigned to a new lessee, then that lessee takes over the terms of that equity lease. There may be circumstances, and this would depend on the terms of the lease, where a portion of the equity could be returned. I looked today at a lease where there was a partial refunded equity. There may be, in some cases, partial refunds of equity, but generally speaking, what happens is that, if the equity lease is assigned to a lessee, the new lessee takes over the terms of the equity lease.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Nahendeh.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I thank the Minister for the answers up to this point. My problem is that, when we have an equity lease and the person purchases it, the equity lease now gets turned into a regular lease again. Now the person doesn't own it; he is given a lease. Will the Minister look at those files that had equity leases, then they were turned back to leases, and will they turn them back to equity leases until all equity lease files are dealt with so that the individual can purchase it, whether it is for a home or a business? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
As I mentioned, we are not issuing new equity leases. However, if a lease is assigned, then the new lessee takes over the terms and conditions of that equity lease. We are not, however, going to be issuing new equity leases.
As I say, there may be circumstances, and it was asked earlier by the Member opposite, about refunds. Again, looking at the portion of the lease that I have in front of me, I do see that, in some circumstances, there is a partial refund of equity. I don't know if there are cases where there is a full refund. In any case, just to repeat, we are not issuing new equity leases. However, equity leases that are currently in force can be assigned to new lessees, so they will take over the terms and conditions of that lease, but we are not issuing new equity leases. Thank you.
Masi. Oral questions. Member for Sahtu.
