China targets land grabs, forced evictions in new law
06 June, 2020
Farmers in China have faced forced evictions and illicit land grabs for decades - sources of social unrest that the federal government is finally trying to handle in a significant shake-up of its property law.
An incredible number of hectares of rural land were taken away from farmers previously three decades and directed at developers as China raced to urbanise, often with little if any compensation in return.
Rural migrants surviving in run-down inner-city areas are also forcefully evicted in recent years as cities fight congestion.
"Land disputes trigger half of around 100,000 social protests in China each year, making them the second leading cause for public unrest after labour disputes," Ni Yulan, a legal professional who advocates for property rights of low-income families in Beijing, told AFP.
Ni has been jailed twice on her behalf advocacy and is paralysed from the waist down, a result she says of beatings received during her detention.
Her house in Beijing was demolished by officials in 2008, but she's not yet had the opportunity to file a complaint about any of it because local courts were operating hand in glove with the neighborhood government, her husband Dong Jiqin said.
China's first-ever civil code approved by parliament last week targets giving judges greater independence and curbing the influence of local officials, but the judiciary is still in the end answerable to the Communist Party.
The brand new guidelines have narrowed the interpretation of "public interest" to avoid abusive land grabs.
It also helps it be mandatory for local governments to make public announcements on "all acts taken by the state with regards to private property", thus making land transactions more transparent.
But it does not stipulate any punishments for all those illegally expropriating land or the rights of individual farmers to collective land, rendering it harder for families to get compensation.
The wide-ranging legislative package should come into effect on Jan 1.
"For the very first time, the civil code offers one whole (legal) system," Liu Qiao, who specialises in Chinese and English civil law at the town University of Hong Kong, said.
"It forces courts and judges to be steady with their interpretations, thus reducing room for political meddling."
But Dong, who's also an activist, was concerned that the brand new provisions will be ignored during enforcement.
"The problem in China is that there surely is no supervision, and the judiciary doesn't act relative to the law," he said.
Local governments have taken away land from 100,000 to 500,000 farmers each year between 2005 to 2015 in violation of national land-use laws, according to a report by Qiao Shitong, a house and urban law professor at the University of Hong Kong.
"AT PEACE"
In China, land can only just be owned by the state or collective organisations. Private individuals or businesses can only just buy the to use land for up to 70 years.
The civil code -? for the first time -? clarifies exactly what will happen once a home owner's 70-year consumption rights expire.
The law affirms that land-use rights for residential homes will be automatically renewed after expiration but will not say whether owners have to pay for renewals.
"This is a strong boost of confidence to the country's homebuyers who were in the dark in what would happen... after the so-called usage-period expires," said Dong Jizhou, a genuine estate analyst for Huatai Financial Holdings.
Ruo Lan, a dumpling vendor in Beijing, said she was earlier nervous about pouring her life savings into buying a flat for her son.
"I can't afford a fresh apartment, and I was worried about purchasing one built 30 or 40 years ago since it wasn't clear whether we're able to still stay in it following the 70-year property use period expired," Ruo said.
"NOW I AM at peace knowing my grandchild can inherit the house."
LIGHTS OUT
Tenants enjoy hardly any rights under a patchwork of contradictory laws in China.
Han Bingxing, who rents an extravagance apartment in Beijing, found her water take off in March after being just fourteen days late on rent.
"I was let go in February, and I had asked for quite a while from the landlord to stay the bills," the 26-year old copywriter told AFP.
"But this is an ominous sign she wished to evict me."
Cutting off utilities - and even sending thugs - is a common practice when landlords want to remove tenants in China.
Liu said the civil code bars property service companies from cutting off water or electricity of tenants who are in arrears.
The government hopes the move will bolster China's 1 trillion yuan (US$145 billion) rental market that is battered by the coronavirus outbreak.
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