01.02.10 16:29 Age: 16 yrs
New Rules To Regulate Expropriation Of Houses In China
Beijing, China February 1, 2010 ----- The draft revision to the Regulations on Demolishing Urban Housing, which had long been criticized for neglecting the owners' rights, was published on Friday for public opinion on the website of Legal Affairs Office of the State Council.
The new draft version stipulates that the government can only confiscate houses for public interests and property owners should be paid the market value of the land and home as compensation.
The proposed law lists the seven items that constitute "public interests", which the original regulations did not. The law allows the taking of land for national defense projects and important public projects, the reconstruction or improvement of old and dangerous buildings, the construction of necessary government offices, and other projects deemed necessary by law or the State Council.
"Although we do not expect that the revised version be perfect, it is certainly a great progress" said Scott Garner, Senior Foreign Counsel and Director of Lehman, Lee & Xu Shanghai office.
With China's feverish real estate market stoking developer appetite for land, existing guidelines allowing local governments to confiscate homes and claim land have sparked growing violence and even prompted some protesters to set themselves on fire. "We hope the new rules will provide the tenants with some protection against forced relocation by the local governments and developers," said Edward E. Lehman, Managing Director of Lehman, Lee & Xu.
Lehman, Lee & Xu is one of the first five private law firms established in the People's Republic of China. Lehman, Lee & Xu is also a top-three commercial law firm, and has provided a variety of commercial legal services to hundreds of clients, many of them multinational corporations (MNCs) and Fortune 100 companies. The firm's diverse catalog of commercial services covers foreign direct investment (FDI), merger and acquisition (M&A), real estate, tax, employment and many other areas.
For more information about Lehman, Lee & Xu, please visit the firm's website at www.lehmanlaw.com
