On Rural Housing Construction And Improvement Of The Contract Specifications

Since China's reform and opening-up, the vast rural areas in China have seen significant economic development and the social construction in the rural areas is just unfolding, marked by the large-scale construction of residential houses in rural areas. Because there is a lack of relevant administrative rules regarding the construction of residential houses in rural areas, the rural house construction market is relatively chaotic, the construction equipment and technology of construction teams in rural areas are yet to be improved, therefore, various contradictions arising during the construction of residential houses in rural areas are ever increasing and the disputes over rural house construction contracts also witness a sharp increase In these cases, rural house construction contracts often exist in formal contract form, the rights and obligations between the parties are unclear and the house construction cost accounts for a very large proportion in the total income of a rural household, therefore, these disputes, if handled improperly, will impose heavy economic and social burdens to the parties and are also likely to give rise to many social contradictions including appeals to higher authorities for help. However, in the current legal theories and judicial practices, there are still no uniform judicial standards on how to properly handle the disputes over rural house construction contracts.The author, based on his several years' experience in handling disputes over rural house construction contracts, hereby summarizes the characteristics, content and important status of the rural house construction constructs in China at the current stage as well as the important and difficult issues in judicial practices.With respect to the legal nature of rural house construction contracts, there are mainly three points of view, namely, Contract for Work Theory, Employment Contract Theory and Engineering Construction Contract. Based on the actual situations of rural house construction contracts in China, the author analyzes these three views one by one and comes to a conclusion that rural house construction contracts should be categorized into engineering construction contracts. Then, in accordance with relevant regulations concerning engineering construction contracts, the author proceeds to improve some elements of rural house construction contracts including the subjects, validity and so on. Finally, by analyzing the status quot and drawbacks of China's applicable laws and regulations at the current stage regarding rural house construction contracts, the author proposes relevant administrative countermeasures, legislative and judicial suggestions, with a view to solving the disputes over rural house construction contracts and safeguarding the socialist modernization drive in China's rural areas.