Discussion On The Establishment Of Hearing Procedures On Housing Expropriation And Compensation In China

Earlier this year, the State Council promulgated the regulation on Expropriation & Compensation on the Houses Which Are Built on State-owned Land. Housing expropriation thus becomes a hot topic. China's administrative hearing system, which was firstly stipulated in Administrative Penalty Law in 1996 and then established in legal system, is now widespread in all administrative areas. The aim of this article is to raise some assumptions on the establishment of hearing systems in Shanghai Implementation Rules on Housing Expropriation & Compensation which is still in the process of discussion and formulation through the analysis on the case from the Housing & Real Estate Authority on the hearing on administrative mandatory relocation in 2009. This article is structured in 4 sections:Chapter one: basic theory on housing expropriation & compensation. The statement on what is administrative expropriation and its features is included in this article and further this article describe the legal basis on expropriation of housing which is built on state-owned land and compensation on such expropriation. Housing relocation and housing expropriation are compared in this article and analysis on the difference on these two and point out the links also.Chapter two: basic theory on administrative hearing system. Administrative hearing system is a foreign system and this article describes the historical evolution of the administrative hearing system and the relevant laws and regulations in China after it is imported into China. Analysis on the basic principles, functions and application scopes of the administrative hearing system is made in this article.Chapter three: discussion on the hearing system on housing demolition and relocation. Housing demolition and relocation is closely linked with housing expropriation, a case on hearing on administrative mandatory demolition from a Housing and Real Estate Authority was taken as an example to demonstrate the lack of implementation of hearing systems on the four principles, as well as the hearing protection function, restrictive function and communication function of the administrative hearing.Chapter four: establishment of the hearing procedures on housing expropriation and compensation in China. The necessity and feasibility on establishment of the hearing procedures on housing expropriation and compensation is analyzed and came out the result of establishment of such hearing procedures and also share the opinions of the detailed procedures and the elements of the hearing process.