Can collective houses in rural villages be bought and sold?

Article 63 of the Land Management Law stipulates that the land use right collectively owned by farmers shall not be sold, transferred or leased for non-agricultural construction. Article 8 of the Urban Real Estate Management Law stipulates that the right to use state-owned land can only be transferred with compensation after the collective land in the urban planning area is converted into state-owned land according to law. The Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Strengthening the Management of Land Transfer and Prohibiting Land Speculation (Guo Ban Fa [1999] No.39) stipulates that farmers' houses shall not be sold to urban residents, nor shall urban residents be allowed to occupy farmers' collective land to build houses, and the relevant departments shall not issue land certificates and real estate licenses to residents who illegally build and buy houses.

Therefore, the real estate on rural collective land is not allowed to enter the trading market. The sale of rural houses can only be carried out within the rural collective, otherwise the sale is illegal and the contract is invalid.

Although the law stipulates that the sale of small property houses is illegal and not protected by law, many grassroots township governments and village governments have tacitly promoted many small property houses projects in the name of new rural construction. Village cadres hold the official seal of village collective land in their hands, and it is easy to sell land privately. Without paying land transfer fees and various taxes and fees, the village-level or town-level government, the leader of small property houses, can obtain excess income.

Coupled with low selling price and low rent, it has become the main driving force for low-income people to snap up small property houses. Compared with high-priced commercial housing, buyers bought a cheap house and realized their dream of housing.

However, small property houses are not protected by law and there are many risks:

(1) legal effect

Generally speaking, the validity of the "small property right house" sales contract is deemed invalid. But also to distinguish between different situations:

When members of rural collective economic organizations buy and sell rural houses within their own townships, the contract for the sale of houses shall be deemed valid.

If the house is sold to people outside their hometown, the contract can be deemed valid with the approval of relevant organizations and departments.

If the house is sold to a person outside his hometown, the contract is invalid without the approval of the relevant organizations and departments, or the buyer does not actually live and use the house.

(2) Transfer of real estate

The "small property right house" can't get the official real estate license, so it doesn't constitute the real estate right in the legal sense. That is, small property houses have only the right to use and no ownership.

According to "People's Republic of China (PRC) Land Management Law", houses with small property rights cannot be transferred or sold to third parties who are not members of the collective, that is, they cannot be legally transferred after purchase. At the same time, it also has a certain impact on the preservation and appreciation of houses.

policy risk

After purchasing a small property right house under construction, the purchaser signs a contract with the developer and pays the house price. If the relevant departments rectify the construction projects of rural property right houses, some projects may be stopped or even forcibly removed. Property buyers will face the embarrassing situation that they can neither get the house nor claim the house payment in time.

After buying a house, if there is land acquisition and demolition by the state, because the rural property houses have no legal property rights recognized by the state, the buyers are not legal property owners and cannot get compensation for property rights demolition. As the actual users, the compensation for demolition is very small compared with the compensation for property rights.

Lack of supervision

There is no clear regulation to restrict the development and construction of rural property houses, and the lack of supervision over development and construction has a certain impact on the interests of buyers. At the same time, without the qualification of developers, it is difficult to guarantee the quality of houses and the after-sales warranty of houses.