Information in Deed

China’s decades-long practice of issuing property and land ownership certificates through different agencies is expected to end in 2014. At the end of November 2013， Chinese Premier Li Keqiang announced that China plans to consolidate various real estate registration offices into one body. Concrete policies will be issued and a single registration and informationsharing platform will be established by the end of June 2014.

Both Houses and Land

At present， China’s land ownership titles are issued by land and resources offices， while home ownership deeds are issued by housing and urban-rural development offices. Thus， most Chinese home ownership certificates only carry information about the house， while information about the land on which the house stands is missing. Construction of the single registration platform aims to eliminate inefficiencies of the existing process， in which various properties are registered with different government agencies. Meanwhile， rights for contracted management of various land， such as usage， will be registered through the same system.

In many Western countries， real estate registration is a basic social service involving administrations of tax， finance， and industry and commerce. The United States， which greatly respects personal privacy in many respects， even makes real estate records public. Detailed information about almost every residence in the United States， as important private property， is openly available on commercial websites or local government websites.

According to Zillow.com， Bill Gates owns a residence at 1835 73rd Ave NE， Medina. Zillow is one of America’s most popular web portal providing information related to real estate， apartments， and mortgages. Detailed information about Gates’lake villa is all out there. Covering an area of 5.15 acres， the villa has eight bedrooms and 25 bathrooms. According to the latest Zillow estimation， it’s worth more than US$167 million.

However， registration of real estate information in China is a slow and difficult process. In China， immovable property is classified into one of several categories， which determines which governmental agency administers it. Nearly 10 agencies in China have various jurisdictions to issue certificates to property rights varying across realms such as housing， forests， meadows and marine areas. Wang Xiaoying， researcher with the Rural Development Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences， explains， “China’s implementation of the classified registration system for various immovable property began during the planned economy era， largely for the sake of managerial convenience.”

In June 2010， China’s Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development began construction of an individual housing information platform for 40 major cities， aiming for real-time supervision of real estate transactions and changes of ownership for individual housing.

The ministry hopes that upon completion， the platform will not only consolidate resources from various housing bureaus across the nation， but also provide interfaces for other governmental agencies such as police， civil administration， land， finance， and statistical offices. This ambitious goal is not expected to be easily achieved， primarily for two reasons. First， while China’s real estate market has been developing fast， property management has not kept pace. Since registration of immovable property needs conversion of paper documentation to electronic， many local agencies have had difficulties in terms of technology and funds. Second， in China， houses are usually the largest shared family property， which makes personal privacy even more importart. Thus， owners of multiple houses are not enthusiastic about the registration system.

Not Just for Anti-Corruption

In the first half of 2013， the authority overseeing immovable property registration quietly changed from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development to the Ministry of Land and Resources. In fact， the organization had long before launched pilot programs for land registration across the nation. In May 2011， the Ministry of Land and Resources made Zhejiang an experimental province. Contrasting the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development which registers housing property， the Ministry of Land and Resources targets immovable property in different settings， including forests and farmland.

In April 2013， the Ministry of Land and Resources announced that their pilot programs in Zhejiang cities of Shaoxing and Ningbo had reached their early goals， and suggested other provinces learn from their experience and working patterns. At about the same time， China’s State Council announced a plan to launch institutional restructuring and functional transformation， asserting it would consolidate registration for properties including houses， land， forests， and establish the immovable property registration system. In this way， the Ministry of Land and Resources has been granted a bigger role.

While many Chinese believe establishing a single immovable property registration platform is meant to fight corruption， experts and scholars are looking deeper. Wang Juelin， vice director of the Policy Research Center of the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development， believes that establishing the platform aims at two goals. It not only lays the foundation to better enforce propertyrelated taxes and check housing prices， but also sets preconditions for land reform in rural areas – farmers will be granted greater access to property rights including rentals， sales and mortgages.

Chen Zhi， secretary-general of the Beijing Municipal Real Estate Industry Association， also believes the aim of the registration system is nearer to formulating housing price-regulation policies and levying property-related taxes， rather than fighting corruption. “One of the reasons the government failed to address housing prices rising too rapidly in recent years is because even the government doesn’t really know who owns what.”

Surely， the proposed system would help curb corruption. According to international common practice， such a system makes it easier for individuals and institutions to obtain information related to property ownership. To protect personal privacy， the system will only provide information on a specific property， such as its owner and other related transaction information. Users will not be able to find out every property owned by an individual through the system.