BEIJING: Chinese whose homes are tagged for redevelopment should be paid market value and can sue over disputes before any demolition, the government said yesterday, as it tries to ease persistent public anger at forced relocations.
MARKET VALUE RULE: Labourers collect bricks for recycling at the site of demolished buildings in Fuzhou, Fujian province. — Reuters photo
With China’s feverish real estate market stoking developer appetite for land, existing guidelines allowing local governments to confiscate homes and claim land have drawn demands for change, which could eventually slow demolitions.
Property disputes in a country where the government legally controls all land can lead to rowdy protests, fights with police, imprisonment and even suicide.
According to a set of State Council Legislative Affairs rules pending review through Feb 12, anyone losing land should be paid market value, while demolition disputes should go to court and lawsuits should settle contract violations.
Chinese facing removal have long complained that the amount of compensation offered is far below the real value of their homes. Some allege that officials collude with developers to demand land in the name of public needs, such as roads, then turn it over to commercial investors who can reap big profits.
Strong-arm tactics should also be forbidden, they say.
“Developers and those charged with demolition and relocation must not cut off water, heat, gas or electricity, use violence, threats other illegal means to carry it out,” the guidelines say.
Standoffs in China can turn violent, pitting residents against police and hired thugs. Protests over home and farmland confiscation are one of the nagging threats to social stability facing the ruling Communist Party.
The 2008 Beijing Olympics shone an unwanted light on the issue, with rights groups complaining of forced demolitions to make way for venues or related infrastructure improvements.
In the latest incident, a 68-year-old man in Jiangsu province of eastern China set fire to himself in the street after police grilled him about his son’s protest against a relocation project, local media said yesterday.
In clusters of homes tagged as “old or dangerous”, 90 per cent of inhabitants should agree to tear them down before demolition is allowed, the rules say.
Ni Yulan, a woman at the heart of a famous Beijing demolition battle since 2002, will effectively test the rules by helping others who have lost property use the legal system, her husband Dong Jiqin said. Ni finishes a related prison term in April. — Reuters