"Guomao"Niliao Project" has gone from a key project to a thousand acres of illegal construction. From 2017 to the present, it has gone from a piece of farmland to a high-end building and a high-end community where residents have moved in. Now it has cut off water and electricity, forcing residents to move out, and wants to "take over" this illegal project.

As a Yingting legal team specializing in land expropriation and demolition disputes, we will not comment on the causes and consequences of the project before investigating and collecting evidence. For the time being, from a professional expropriation and demolition perspective, we will interpret several legal issues for companies facing such disputes.

1. Acquisition of land

Any development land must use state-owned land. There are only two forms of land acquisition, one is allocation and the other is bidding, auction and listing. There are only two forms of land ownership in our country, one is state-owned land and the other is collective land. When we usually talk about "expropriation", "expropriation" and "collection" are separate, and "expropriation" is for Collective land is requisitioned as state-owned. After requisitioning the collective land, the collective land will be converted into state-owned land through payment of land transfer fees and relevant procedures. "Acquisition" refers to the recovery of the use rights of state-owned land. After the land is acquired through "expropriation" and "acquisition", it will be allocated to state-owned enterprises or will be tendered, auctioned and listed for corporate development, depending on demand.

Whether an enterprise is inviting investment or renting land or purchasing land, it is necessary to first understand the nature of the land. Building a house on farmland is definitely an illegal construction, but who bears the responsibility or losses of such illegal construction depends on who caused the illegal construction. If the government promised to let the enterprise settle in for development and put into production first, the government will cooperate with the relevant procedures at the same time. In this case, if there is a later illegal construction problem, in accordance with the principle of good faith, the losses caused need to be borne by the government that made the commitment. If the enterprise rents it by itself or “purchases” it from farmers before developing and constructingOKofIf there is illegal construction, the enterprise needs to bear the corresponding losses and legal liabilities.

As an entrepreneur, you must also identify risks. After all, the development and construction of any project requires a large amount of material and manpower. If a key mistake occurs, land disputes are no small matter. No matter who is responsible, the impact on the company will be significant.

2. Dealing with illegal construction

Reports on this incident have repeatedly mentioned that several administrative penalties have been imposed on the illegal activities of the project in the past few years, but all of them were invalid, but there was no legal procedure that was complied with once. What is the legal procedure for demolishing illegal buildings? In the previous articles of the Yingting Lawyers Group, "judicial forced demolition" has been mentioned several times, that is, Article 28 of the "Regulations on the Expropriation and Compensation of Houses on State-owned Land" stipulates that if the expropriated person does not apply for administrative review or file an administrative lawsuit within the statutory period, and fails to fulfill the compensation decision, the city or county-level people's government that made the house expropriation decision shall apply to the People's Court for compulsory execution in accordance with the law.

The law gives the government coercive means, but there is no law that gives the government "takeover" of "illegal buildings." Judicial demolition in accordance with legal procedures is a government act that complies with the law, but taking over illegal buildings is an act that does not comply with the law.

3. Any coercive measures such as cutting off water, electricity, and circuits during the expropriation and demolition process are illegal.

Relevant personnel have repeatedly mentioned in news reports that they have implemented measures such as cutting off water and electricity, but they have not stopped the construction of the company, including still cutting off water for residents who have moved in. These are illegal actions by the government.

4. Another reminder about judicial forced demolitions

The government has one and only one legal form of demolition of illegal buildings, which is judicial demolition, and there are strict legal procedures for judicial demolition. For example, the people's government at the city or county level that makes the final decision applies, the people's court enforces the application, and forced demolition is not allowed on holidays and at night, etc. These are all strict restrictions on the government's power.

After inquiries, the Yingting demolition lawyer team found that illegal constructions ranging from key projects to thousands of acres are not uncommon in various places. How to control from the source, control through legal procedures, exercise power in accordance with the law, and safeguard rights and interests in accordance with the law are more worthy of consideration.