Homesteads of rural farmers are forbidden to be traded and transferred to urban residents, according to an official of China's Land and Resources Ministry. (File photo/China News Service)
(ECNS) — A senior land official said the homesteads of rural farmers -- land previously allotted to them by the government to build homes -- cannot be traded and transferred to urban residents.
Zhao Long, vice minister of Land and Resources, made the remarks at a press conference in response to questions why homesteads bought by urban residents after 1999 will not be given registration rights.
The homesteads will continue to be allocated and transferred only among members of village collectives, it was added.
Rural residents are banned from trading homesteads to safeguard the living conditions and safety of farmers. As a result, rural residents will not receive registration of rights for homesteads, which are part of collectively owned land, the official noted.
The house plot is exclusively for members of rural collectives and is a basic means of welfare for farmers, Zhao added.
He said research on transferring homesteads among a larger group of people in the future is still underway.
According to Chinese law, urban land is owned by the state and rural land is under collective ownership. Farmers use the land but have no right to sell or develop it.
China has initiated a series of reforms to bolster modern farming and reuse abandoned land amid urbanization and industrialization, such as allowing farmers to rent out, transfer and merge land they have contracted.
