What will affect us if it is registered? On the topic raised by the unified real estate registration certificate
The unified real estate registration certificates were officially announced on the 26th. The unified formats, including the "Real Estate Register," "Real Estate Ownership Certificate," and "Real Estate Registration Certificate," will be fully implemented starting March 1st. Regarding this matter, a series of original and derivative real estate registration topics can no longer be avoided.
Do we need to exchange for new certificates, and how will it affect our property documents?
For most people, the most valuable property documents are real estate certificates—urban commercial housing, rural homestead "house certificates," and certificates for farmland, mountains, rivers, forests, fields, lakes, and seas usage rights or contractual management rights. The nationwide adoption of unified real estate registration books and certificates—how will it affect these "treasures" of ours?
"The full implementation of the 'Interim Regulations on Real Estate Registration' will take a process. After the regulations take effect, both the new certificates issued in accordance with the law, and the various old certificates that continue to be issued due to incomplete integration of responsibilities and institutions, making it impossible to issue new certificates; as well as various certificates issued legally under decentralized registration before the regulations took effect, will all remain valid. New and old certificates will be used in parallel for a period of time." Wang Guanghua, Director of the Cadastral Management Department of the Ministry of Land and Resources (Director of the Real Estate Registration Bureau), repeatedly emphasized to reporters, "I hope every article can make this clear."
As the core content of unified real estate registration, only when the books and certificates are unified can changes in property rights be uniformly and clearly reflected, and property rights be uniformly and strictly protected. "If the books and certificates are not unified, real estate property rights cannot be uniformly publicized, which may lead to overlapping and conflicting rights, diminishing the effectiveness of real estate registration for public notice and credibility, and property rights may not be effectively protected, potentially causing disputes and conflicts." Wang Guanghua emphasized that with unified books and certificates, no matter where the real estate is registered, when transactions occur, the parties involved will have a unified and trustworthy basis, allowing for the effective establishment of good order. "If the books and certificates are not unified, with different registration books and multiple certificates in different places, there may be multiple sales of the same house or land, creating transaction risks and affecting transaction safety."
Eliminating the drawbacks of non-unified certificates under the decentralized registration model will benefit the people and reduce administrative costs. With unified certificates, the cost for the public to obtain certificates will decrease. The original decentralized registration books and certificates contained much redundant content, wasting administrative costs and prone to errors, causing unnecessary trouble for rights holders. "Real estate registration agencies must adhere to the principle of 'no change, no replacement' and the principle of convenience for enterprises and the public. If rights do not change, books and certificates will not be replaced. When handling changes, transfers, and other registration work in accordance with the law, new real estate registration books and certificates will be gradually replaced." Leng Hongzhi, Deputy Director of the Real Estate Registration Bureau of the Ministry of Land and Resources, emphasized that local authorities must not force parties to replace real estate ownership certificates and registration certificates, increasing the burden on enterprises and the public.
Will there be a sell-off, and how will it affect the real estate market?
"The unified real estate registration is about to be implemented. Do you think people with multiple properties will sell them off? If they do, will housing prices drop as a result?" Jiang Rulin, a 30-year-old resident of Zhengzhou, is married with a child and still renting, waiting for the right time to buy a home.
Jiang Rulin's question is quite representative. Although the original intention of implementing unified real estate registration is not to lower housing prices, its objective impact on the real estate market cannot be denied. With unified real estate registration, the unclear status of personal housing information is expected to improve.
In fact, the lack of accurate and queryable information has long plagued China's housing construction and real estate regulation. A local grassroots official said, "If we can't even figure out how many houses each family has and how large they are, it's not only difficult to formulate regulatory policies, but also easy to make mistakes."
Zhang Dawei, chief analyst at Centaline Property, said, "This policy is an important milestone in shifting real estate regulation from the transaction stage to the stock stage."
Currently, China's real estate industry has entered a stage of stock adjustment, with significant regional differentiation. "Reducing inventory" will be the main theme of the market in 2015. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, at the end of 2014, the national commercial housing area for sale reached a new high of 620 million square meters, an increase of 130 million square meters compared to the end of 2013, with residential area for sale exceeding 400 million square meters.
Although some market research institutions predict that with the acceleration of real estate registration, the supply of large second-hand homes will continue to increase, which may lead to more listings by owners holding multiple properties, it will not have an excessive impact on the overall real estate market.
Zhu Zhongyi, honorary vice president of the China Real Estate Association, believes that real estate registration and the networking of personal housing information are the most fundamental elements of a long-term regulatory mechanism for real estate, but housing prices are mainly determined by factors such as supply and demand and expectations. The real estate registration system itself will not have a significant impact on housing prices. Some interviewed experts believe that the implementation of the regulations will make decision-making more scientific and precise, helping to establish a long-term mechanism for the healthy development of the real estate market.
Real estate registration has landed, so what about the other shoe of the property tax?
In response to reports of an impending property tax, the head of the Real Estate Registration Bureau stated that although unified real estate registration is a technical foundation for real estate taxation, tax issues can only be decided by the state in accordance with relevant tax laws and the principle of statutory taxation.
As one of the hot derivative topics of real estate registration, the relationship between real estate registration and property tax collection has become clearer through rounds of intense debate. Undoubtedly, real estate registration is a necessary technical condition for property tax collection. To levy a tax on the holding of properties, one must first determine exactly how many houses each person owns. At the same time, the information support from real estate registration will also strengthen the collection and management of deed taxes and individual income taxes in property transfer transactions.
After the real estate registration shoe drops, some people may sell off their multiple properties due to the approaching property tax, because based on the reform signals released so far, property tax collection will protect residents' basic housing needs and mainly target excess properties. The more properties one owns, the heavier the tax burden on the holding stage.
Chen Fei, an associate researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said: "The implementation of unified real estate registration means that the collection of property tax is drawing closer. This will be a major blow to speculators in commercial housing, forcing some vacant properties into the market, and is expected to effectively reduce the vacancy rate of sold housing."
Of course, the technical conditions for levying property tax include not only a detailed understanding of how much real estate each person owns, but also real estate appraisal techniques. More complex is the tax system design—what exactly constitutes a resident's basic housing needs, and whether it is more reasonable to levy taxes per unit or per square meter? ... These issues are interconnected and require comprehensive consideration.
As is well known, legislation is currently the path for property tax reform. This reform will be led by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, with strengthened research and steady progress. This means that the collection of property tax will mainly depend on the legislative process, on the process of reaching reform consensus, reducing resistance, and coordinating relationships. It will not be achieved overnight, but will proceed on the expected track.
Some experts also believe that technical conditions are not an insurmountable obstacle to property tax collection; what is more important is to make the tax collection justified and well-founded. Compared with indirect taxes like China's value-added tax and business tax, which are mostly embedded in prices, how a property tax with obvious direct tax characteristics can "directly" take money from people's pockets is likely closely linked to major reforms such as tax legality and budget transparency.
The topic of property rights is hard to settle—what about "small property rights housing"? What about commercial housing after 70 years?
Regarding the "small property rights housing" issue that concerns many urban residents (and also some suburban rural residents), a relevant official from the Ministry of Land and Resources stated on the 26th that real estate registration is an action to protect the rights and interests of real estate owners in accordance with the Property Law, and it is impossible to register illegal items. China's current laws and regulations are clear, and land use controls are universally implemented worldwide. "Therefore, 'small property rights housing' cannot be registered, let alone 'whitened' through legal registration."
"Unified real estate registration is a clear requirement of superior laws such as the Property Law. This is a statutory action. Regarding the issue of 'small property rights housing,' laws and regulations are clear, and relevant departments like the Ministry of Land and Resources have repeatedly emphasized this. Discussions on real estate registration can only proceed within the legal framework," Wang Guanghua said.
The "Several Opinions on the Registration and Certification of Rural Collective Land Rights" issued by the Ministry of Land and Resources emphasizes that the registration and certification of rural collective land rights must be strictly regulated, with a ban on false land registration and on registering or certifying illegal land use without prior legal processing. "For illegal land uses such as converting farmers' collective land into state-owned land through household registration system reforms or unauthorized 'village-to-residence' conversions without legal expropriation procedures, illegal leasing or selling of collective land by rural collective economic organizations for non-agricultural construction, urban residents purchasing宅基地, farmers' houses, or 'small property rights houses' in rural areas, registration and certification shall not be granted."
With the full implementation of the unified real estate registration certificates, another issue has emerged—the unified registration of housing and land highlights the 70-year usage right issue for commercial housing land. "Land is the core of real estate. Many issues in China's economic development revolve around land," said Yang Chongguang, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Unified real estate registration is a requirement of the Property Law, and many other requirements of the Property Law still need to be implemented. The question of what happens after the 70-year usage right for commercial housing land expires will become apparent during the unified real estate registration process. "As real estate registration advances, the property rights issues behind this technical registration will become clearer, and the task of legal reform will also become more defined."
