住宅七十年自动续期 (zhùzhái qīshínián zìdòng xùqī): Automatic renewal of housing land use rights after 70 years

As expected, the Civil Law is to include a provision for the automatic renewal of residential land use rights after the period of use of residential construction land expires. The renewal fees will be in accordance with the provisions of the law and administrative regulations.

The move is in line with Premier Li Keqiang's statement at the two sessions in 2017 when he told the media that 70-year residential land use rights should be automatically renewed after they expire without application and any precondition.

Housing is the foundation of people's lives. Many people struggle for decades and spend a lifetime of savings to realize their dream of owning a house of their own. To be more straightforward, the actual wealth of many Chinese families is mainly reflected in the value of the houses they own. Therefore, the issue of land use rights is naturally directly related to the basic property rights of homeowners.

Thus what happens after the expiration of land use rights has drawns wide public concern. In China all urban land belongs to the State. Individuals only have the right to use the land through buying a property, rather than owning the land. In other words, although the housing owners have the right to use their property in perpetuity, they only have the right to the land on which their property sits for 70 years.

Legislation on the automatic renewal of land use rights is therefore of great significance to house owners.