Doing Business Safely in China

11	Real Esate

1. Real Estate

1.1. Land and Land Use Right

Under Chinese law, all land is either owned by the State or collective organizations. In order to allow land transfer, Chinese law created the concept of land use right in lieu of land ownership, due to the fact that land is publicly owned and therefore not able to be disposed of either through private sale or lease. This is the key to understanding the Chinese real estate legal framework.

1.2. Land Ownership

Pursuant to the Constitution of the People’s Republic of China, there are two kinds of land ownership: state-owned land and collectively-owned land. Stated-owned land means that the land is owned by the State, while collectively-owned land means that the land is owned by collective ...