Who owns the green space, roads and parking lots within a
residential district? The real estate developer, apartment owners,
or property maintenance providers?
Are urban residents permitted to buy residential-purpose land in
the countryside?
These questions were addressed by?the draft of a
long-awaited property law, which was discussed by the National
People's Congress (NPC)
Standing Committee for the third time during?its six-day
session. The meeting closed on Friday.
The draft of the property law is a development of a
constitutional amendment to protect private property. It defines
protections of private property in a more detailed way.
According to the draft, house owners own the green space, roads
and property management house within the range of the building. But
government-constructed ones are excluded.
The draft also prescribed that without an agreement in place,
apartment owners own clubs and parking lots in residential areas
unless the real estate developer and others can prove their
ownership of such entities.
As for parking areas, nearly all of the house owners in the
country currently have to buy or rent them from real estate
developers.
"The major property issue in Beijing is the contradiction among
house owners, property service providers and real estate
developers," Zhu Xiangyuan, an NPC Standing Committee member, said
in panel discussion during the week-long meeting.
"There are many conflicts among the three parties. The property
law is urgently needed to help solve these property-related
disputes," he said.
To protect individual properties, the draft stressed private
ownership in house relocations.
House owners should be compensated according to national
regulations if they need to be relocated, the draft said.
It is forbidden to change ownership of private properties in the
name of relocation. Those who cause people to suffer private
property losses through illegal relocations should shoulder civil,
administrative and even criminal responsibilities, according to the
draft.
In discussions over the draft, rural residents' right to use
residential land aroused debate.
The NPC Law Committee advised in the draft that "urban residents
are forbidden to buy residential land in the countryside." The
suggestion, which accords with a regulation by the State Council,
is aimed to protect the interests of farmers and land used for
cultivation.
In China, each rural household is authorized only one piece of
land to reside upon.
According to the draft of the law, if a villager transfers usage
rights of his or her own residential land to other villagers, he or
she is unable to apply for any other land to build a house in the
resident's village.
However, Fu Zhihuan, an NPC Standing Committee member, pointed
out that some urban citizens want to buy land in the countryside to
build their own houses.
"I wonder whether we should permit such behaviors," he said.
Fu advised deleting the prohibition in this case.
There is one stipulation in the draft that appears to go against
a traditional Chinese virtue. It says the owner of lost belongings,
say a bicycle, a wallet, or an umbrella, should pay necessary fees
to the individual who picks it up or to relevant authorities that
help to store it.
But Chinese used to see it as a virtue not to ask for any
payment after returning things they pick up to their owners.
"I believe the stipulation goes against traditional virtues,"
Yang Guoliang, an NPC Standing Committee member, said in
discussion.
"I advise not to lay down hard and fast rules in the law," he
said.
The draft of the law expands the range of properties used as
collateral, including buildings, ships and even aircraft in
construction.
Enterprises, individual businessmen and rural contractors can
mortgage movable properties they own now and will own in the
future, the draft says. Highway right-of-ways and electricity
networks can also be placed under mortgage.
The NPC Law Committee, the Supreme People's Court and the
People's Bank of China (PBC)?have agreed to
the change, according to Hu Kangsheng, vice chairman of the
committee.
Aiming at identifying property ownership and protecting
properties of individuals and corporations, the property law is a
key part of the civil code.
The establishment of modern property law started from the civil
code of Germany in 1896. China began to draft the property law in
1998.
The NPC Standing Committee discussed the draft of the property
law in 2002 for the first time and the second discussion was
conducted last year.
(China Daily July 2, 2005)