溫州一小步 住宅土地使用權免費續期

BEIJING — China has clarified for the first time a closely watched issue over land rights that has caused uncertainty for the millions of Chinese who park their wealth in their homes.

北京——中國首次澄清了公衆密切關注的一個土地使用權問題。數以百萬計的中國人將財富投入到了房產上，這個問題一直讓他們感到很不踏實。

Chinese officials said that a group of homeowners in the eastern city of Wenzhou would not have to pay a fee to extend the rights to the land under their residences. Homeowners in China own their actual dwellings but not the land underneath them. All land in China is owned by the government, which parcels it out to developers and homeowners through 20- to 70-year leases.

中國官員說，東部城市溫州的一羣房主不必支付費用來續期住房的土地使用權。中國的房主擁有的是住房本身，但不擁有住房下面的土地。中國的所有土地都屬於政府，政府把土地出租給開發商和房主，租期20~70年不等。

In Wenzhou, the local government had told some homeowners whose 20-year leases had expired that they would have to pay a hefty fee to renew, and the situation there was being monitored closely across the country. Many Chinese homeowners — a bedrock of the country’s economy and growing consumer sector — worried that they would have to pay dearly to keep using the land under their homes.

在溫州，地方政府曾告訴一些20年租約已到期的房主，他們必須支付大筆費用來續期，這引起了全國的密切關注。房地產是中國經濟的一塊基石，也是一個日益增長的消費門類，中國的很多房主都擔心自己必須付出大筆金錢，才能繼續使用住房下面的土地。

The decision — announced on Friday by Wang Guanghua, China’s vice minister of land and resources — stops short of providing homeowners all over the country a clear legal framework on their land ownership rights. Nevertheless, it could set a precedent that would pave the way for similar moves in other cities.

這個決定是國土資源部副部長王廣華在上週五宣佈的，它沒有爲全國各地的房主提供一個明確的土地所有權法律框架。不過它可以成爲一個先例，爲其他城市的類似舉措鋪平道路。

At a news conference, Mr. Wang said that the measures were temporary and that the government was working on “relevant legal arrangements” for those holding 70-year leases, according to a transcript of the briefing on the ministry’s website. Much of China’s residential land is covered by 70-year leases.

根據該部網站上的文稿，王廣華在一次記者招待會上表示，這些措施是暫時的，政府正在爲那些持有70年租約者“作出法律安排”。中國大部分的住宅用地使用期限都爲70年。

The issue of land ownership rights came into focus in Wenzhou in April after the local government demanded that homeowners whose land-use rights had expired after 20 years pay fees of up to a third of the value of their homes before they could sell their apartments. The decision provoked protests from property owners in Wenzhou, a coastal city of eight million that was one of the first to set up private enterprise after the government opened up the economy in the late 1970s.

今年4月，土地所有權問題在溫州成爲了一個關注重點，因爲地方政府要求，土地使用權20年到期的房主需要繳納房價的三分之一，才能出售住房。該決定引發了當地房主的抗議。溫州是一個800萬人口的沿海城市，是中國政府1970年代末開放經濟後首批建立私營企業的城市之一。

Xinhua, the main state news agency, hailed the government’s decision, calling it “one small step for Wenzhou, one giant leap for China.” Global Times, a nationalist tabloid owned by People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s official newspaper, said it was “the biggest news of the year.”

官方通訊社新華社讚揚了政府的這個決定，稱之爲“溫州一小步，中國一大步”。中國共產黨黨報《人民日報》旗下的民族主義小報《環球時報》說，這是“本年度最重大的消息”。

Land-use rights are set to expire in the cities of Qingdao, Jinan and Shenzhen, according to Xinhua.

據新華社報道，在青島，濟南和深圳等城市，很多居民的住宅土地使用權也將要過期。

The measures “conform to the expectations of the masses,” Xinhua said in a commentary on Saturday.

新華社星期六在一篇評論中說，這些措施“順應了羣衆的期盼”。

“For all citizens, it is transmitting spring’s first glow of warm air,” it said.

“對於所有公民來說，是傳遞春天信息的最早一縷暖風，”文章寫道。

The number of residents affected by the 20-year land-use rights in Wenzhou is relatively small. China Youth Daily, a state-run news outlet, said that about 600 households had 20-year leases that expire next year and 1,700 others by 2019. But their property transactions have been in limbo because of the uncertainty over their land-use rights.

溫州20年土地使用權影響的居民人數相對較少。官方新聞媒體《中國青年報》報道，約有600戶家庭的20年租約將在明年到期，2019年還有1700戶。但由於土地使用權的不確定性，他們的房產交易一直處在尷尬境地。

In 2007, China moved to reassure homeowners by requiring that local governments renew 70-year leases automatically. Yet the law did not make clear whether homeowners would have to pay for the renewal or what would happen to those with shorter leases.

2007年時，中國爲了安撫房主，要求地方政府爲70年使用權自動續期。然而，該法律沒有明確房主是否需要爲續期付費，以及租賃時間較短的房主會面臨怎樣的問題。

China has one of the highest rates of homeownership in the world, about 90 percent. Many people see it as a good investment in a country that has not experienced a sustained housing slump. Homeownership also plays a social role: Buying a home is widely seen as part of getting married. And in the past two decades since the government has allowed private homeownership, many people rushed to buy homes without thinking of the legal issues governing their limited land-use rights.

中國是世界上自住房比率最高的國家之一，約爲90%。該國沒有經歷過樓市的持續低迷，很多人認爲房產是一項好投資。住房所有權也扮演了社會角色：公衆廣泛認爲結婚的時候需要購房。自從20年前政府允許私人擁有住房以來，很多人都急於買房，並沒有考慮到其有限的土地使用權涉及的法律問題。

A majority of them also expected that the government would grant them full ownership of their homes without repossession or a huge fee to renew their land rights. Those moves could hurt the Chinese property market and anger China’s middle class — an important constituency of the ruling Communist Party — that is richer, larger and more aware of its rights than ever before.

大多數購房者還認定，政府將讓他們完全擁有自己的住房，不會收回土地使用權或是收取鉅額續期費用。這些做法可能會衝擊中國房地產市場，引發中產階級的怒火——他們是執政黨共產黨的重要支持者，而且比以往任何時候都更富有、規模更大，對自己的權利也有更強烈的意識。