[2] Types of housing differ; four categories not subject to title confirmation

Compiled from: Natural Resources Classroom, Lufa Xingtan
 
Recently, the Ministry of Natural Resources issued a notice on accelerating the registration and certification of the right to use homestead land and collective construction land. The notice clearly stipulates that the following four situations will not be eligible for registration and certification:

 
 

1. Building houses on illegally occupied farmland
In rural areas, it is common for homestead land to be insufficient due to reasons such as the division of family property among brothers,leading some farmers to build houses on farmland. However, this practice violates the principle of "strictly protecting permanent basic farmland" in the Land Administration Law:
 
Article 37 of the Land Administration Law prohibits occupying farmland to build kilns, graves, or unauthorized construction of houses, sand mining, quarrying, mining, or soil extraction on farmland.
 
According to the provisions in Chapter 7 "Legal Liability," illegal occupation of farmland may result in serious legal consequences such as corrective measures or remediation within a specified period, demolition or confiscation of buildings, fines, and even criminal liability.
 
Therefore, regarding the construction of houses on illegally occupied farmland, the "Notice" explicitly excludes such cases from the scope of rights confirmation and registration, further demonstrating the national level's determination and confidence in addressing illegal farmland use.
 
 
II. Rural Homesteads Illegally Purchased by Urban Residents
With the acceleration of urbanization, many rural areas have become largely deserted. Farmers, unwilling to leave their houses idle, wish to sell them to those in need; meanwhile, some urban residents have developed an interest in purchasing rural homes.
 
However, according to relevant regulations, rural homesteads are collective construction land allocated only to members of the collective economic organization for building houses and living. In other words, urban residents who are not part of the village collective cannot purchase farmers' houses on their own.
 
 
III. Construction Violating Ecological Red Line Control Requirements
"Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets" is our basic national policy, and the status of environmental protection has been elevated to an unprecedented level. In this context, if farmers build houses within nature reserves or drinking water source protection areas, or even clearly encroach upon the locally designated ecological protection "red line" and cross the boundary, then the houses will not only fail to be confirmed and registered but will also face demolition.
 
It should be noted that even if the house in question underwent some approval procedures at the time of construction, or even obtained corresponding property certificates and planning permits, it still cannot be guaranteed that it will not be re-investigated and dealt with as an illegal construction today. Many individual cases exhibit this characteristic, let alone unlicensed houses that have not yet obtained any certificates and are still awaiting confirmation and registration.
 
 
4. Small property rights houses
"Small property rights houses" mainly refer to houses built on collective construction land and illegally sold to outsiders. Although such houses may hold "rights certificates" issued by village committees or township governments, they do not have the qualification to be confirmed and registered with natural resources and planning departments in accordance with the law.
 
Therefore, the "Notice" clearly stipulates that small property rights houses cannot obtain legal status through confirmation and registration.

 

 
[1] The author's perspective
In recent years, with the development of rural areas, the standardized use and management of rural land have also been put on the agenda. As stated in the "Notice," nationwide, the number of homesteads is large and the situation is complex, and there must still be some relatively exceptional cases. The above-mentioned are just four typical situations where confirmation and registration cannot be completed.
 
Therefore, members of the village collective should promptly inquire about the progress of relevant work with the village committee, township government (subdistrict office), and county-level planning and natural resources department, and cooperate with the confirmation and registration work at any time. Non-members of the village collective who intend to purchase the above properties need to consider carefully.