The Ministry of Land and Resources said on Wednesday that the new scheme to allow villagers to build rental housing in selected cities is “totally different” from the current houses with limited property rights, in that the former is legal and the latter is not.
Under the new scheme declared by the government on Monday, villagers are allowed to build rental housing in 13 selected cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, a plan aimed at increasing the supply of public rental housing, according to a Xinhua report.
Houses with limited property rights refer to houses often built on rural land without a permit sold to non-local residents. Under China’s dual land use, urban land and rural land are demarcated for different uses.
A spokesperson from the ministry told Xinhua in an interview that the rental housing scheme falls within urban-rural planning guidelines, and follows the law when it comes to real estate registration and construction permits, whereas houses with limited property rights are an “illegal concept” that are “not covered under the law,” and flout laws on construction and property sales.