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After 39.15 mu of agricultural land in Chengjiaotou Village, Longshan Subdistrict Office, Zhangqiu District, Jinan, Shandong Province was expropriated and sold, land compensation has been paid out annually at more than 1,000 yuan per mu for more than a decade. In the past two years, compensation has been delayed and in arrears.

Because of this, some villagers began to question whether their land was being occupied in an illegal form of "renting instead of requisitioning".

According to my country's Land Administration Law and the Land Administration Law Implementation Regulations, even before the 2019 revision, it was clearly stipulated that "all fees for land acquisition shall be paid in full within three months from the date of approval of the land acquisition compensation and resettlement plan."

In response to this, a staff member of the Longshan Subdistrict Office responded to The Paper that there was no arrears in compensation. Regarding the question of "renting instead of requisitioning", the District Natural Resources Bureau has given a clear answer: according to the relevant approval, the land acquisition procedure implemented on this piece of land is legal, the land acquisition compensation is in place, and there is no problem of illegal land acquisition.

The staff member did not give a clear answer to the question of why the compensation would be paid out annually at a rate of 1,000 yuan per mu.

A person familiar with the matter told The Paper that the annual payment of compensation is actually a form of leasing to replace the one-time compensation that should have been paid. This practice is a typical "renting instead of expropriation". According to the law, the "renting instead of expropriation" agreement is an invalid agreement. In this case, if the consent of all villagers is obtained, a new expropriation agreement can be signed. If the consent cannot be obtained, the cultivated land should be returned.

The town and village signed a contract to requisition arable land for 1,000 yuan per mu per year

"Initially, the village proposed to rent our land first and return it when there is a planting plan in the future." Li Meng (pseudonym), a villager in Chengjiaotou Village, recalled that in 2006, the village collected all the land and said it would be leased to the town government. Subsequently, the village and town governments signed a contract stipulating that the annual rent for each mu of land was 1,000 yuan, and more than three mu of Li Meng's land was included. However, "in the past two years, the compensation has not been paid in time." Li Meng said that the compensation that should have been paid last year was delayed until after the Spring Festival this year before it was partially paid. The villagers went to the town government to ask for the outstanding debts, and the remaining balance was settled in June, but there was no news about the compensation for 2024. Every time I consulted, the answer I got was always "wait a little longer."

According to the "Contract" provided by villagers to The Paper, the People's Government of Longshan Town, Zhangqiu City (on December 22, 2016, the county-level Zhangqiu City was abolished and Zhangqiu District, Jinan City was established) (Editor's note: now the Longshan Sub-district Office of Zhangqiu District) is Party A, and Party B is Chengjiaotou Village. The contract mentioned that in order to ensure that the interests of farmers are protected after the requisition of rural collective land, in accordance with the spirit of Document No. 27 of Zhangzhengfa [2003], this contract was jointly negotiated and concluded by Party A and Party B. For the cultivated land requisitioned this time, Party B will pay a compensation of 1,000 yuan per mu per year during the contract period, and compensation for young crops and ground attachments will be compensated separately. After the land compensation fee is paid for five years, the total land compensation fee will be increased by 5% based on the price increase.

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The contract also states that the land requisitioned for the construction project is located in the east of Chengjiaotou Village, with an area of ​​26,100 square meters (39.15 acres), and the compensation fee is 39,150 yuan per year. The payment method states that the total compensation fee for Party B is 39,150 yuan per year, which will be paid to Party B in one lump sum before the end of December each year from the date of signing the contract. It will be allocated by the Zhangqiu Municipal Finance Bureau and implemented by the township (sub-district office) government.

It is worth noting that the "contract period" and "signing date" in the "contract" were not filled in. At the end of the document, the official seals of the Longshan Sub-district Office of Zhangqiu City and the Chengjiaotou Village Committee of the Longshan Sub-district Office of Zhangqiu City were stamped on the positions of Party A and Party B respectively, and the corresponding signatures were signed by Zhao and Shi.

In addition, The Paper noticed that in the contract, Party A filled in "People's Government of Longshan Town, Zhangqiu City", which does not match the name of the official seal.

The construction land is transferred to the enterprise for new factory building the next day after the approval.

The Paper noted that on December 30, 2006, the Shandong Provincial People's Government issued the "Approval on the 13th Batch of Urban Construction Land in Zhangqiu City in 2006", which stated that it agreed to convert 136,554 square meters of agricultural land (all arable land) in the Longshan Sub-district Office of Zhangqiu City into construction land. After the conversion, the above-mentioned agricultural land was agreed to be expropriated for urban construction.

The document emphasizes that "we must further implement the supplementary arable land plan and effectively improve the quality of the supplemented arable land; we must earnestly organize and implement the land acquisition plan to ensure that land acquisition compensation and farmer resettlement are in place; we must strictly follow the relevant national regulations to provide land for specific construction projects, and the land supply situation must be reported to the Provincial Department of Land and Resources in a timely manner for filing by the municipal land and resources department."

The next day, December 31, 2006, the People's Government of Zhangqiu City issued a "Reply on the Transfer of State-owned Land Use Rights to Zhangqiu Sailing Machinery Co., Ltd." to Zhangqiu Sailing Machinery Co., Ltd. According to the provisions of the "Provisional Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Transfer and Assignment of State-owned Land Use Rights in Cities and Towns" and your company's application, after research and approval, the state-owned land use rights of 26,100 square meters out of the 136,554 square meters that have been expropriated will be transferred to your company for the construction of new factories, warehouses and ancillary facilities. The transfer period is 50 years, calculated from the date of approval.

The Paper once called the relevant person in charge of the above-mentioned company to inquire about the specific situation of the land use, but the other party hung up the phone directly after hearing the purpose of the call.

Li Meng's statement was confirmed by fellow villager Liu Peng (pseudonym). Liu Peng said: "The farmland that was originally used to grow corn and wheat has now been covered by factory buildings." In addition, Liu Peng also revealed that some villagers had questioned the government's behavior, believing that it was suspected of "renting instead of requisitioning", but the relevant departments denied this and said that all procedures were in compliance with legal provisions.

Huang Yan (pseudonym), a villager in Chengjiaotou Village, said that they would prefer to be able to take back their land and farm at home.

A lawyer told The Paper that farmland is the basis of farmers' survival, and the state attaches great importance to protecting farmers' land, especially when urban development and construction require strong support from agriculture. According to Article 25 of the "Regulations for the Implementation of the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China" implemented in 1999, "All fees for expropriation of land shall be paid in full within three months from the date of approval of the land expropriation compensation and resettlement plan", the compensation for expropriation of land is not required to be paid in full at one time, but the payment period should be paid in full within three months, so the law does not allow compensation to be paid annually.

In addition, the Urgent Notice on Resolutely Stopping Illegal and Irregular Use of Land by "Leasing Instead of Expropriation" (National Land and Resources Development [2005] No. 166) stipulates: "It is strictly prohibited to convert agricultural land into construction land by "leasing instead of expropriation" without authorization, and the illegal and irregular use of land by "leasing instead of expropriation" shall be severely investigated and dealt with in accordance with the law."

Officials deny "renting instead of requisitioning", saying land requisition procedures are legal

A relevant staff member of Chengjiaotou Village Committee confirmed to The Paper that the land compensation for 2024 has not yet been paid because the town government (sub-district office) has not yet allocated funds. Last year's compensation has been paid this year. In addition, the staff member also said that the village committee did sign a land requisition contract with the town government (sub-district office) before, and the villagers did not raise any questions to the village committee about the issue of "renting instead of requisitioning".

The Paper verified the situation reported by the villagers with the Zhangqiu District Natural Resources Bureau, and a staff member replied that the issue of compensation should be handled by the town government (street office). As for the question raised by the villagers about "renting instead of requisitioning", the relevant approval documents need to be submitted to the petition department of the Natural Resources Bureau, and subsequent processing will be carried out by reviewing public documents. She also emphasized that "renting instead of requisitioning" is an act that violates land laws and regulations.

What is "renting instead of expropriation"? Beijing Yanqing Law Firm once publicly wrote that it is an act of renting farmers' collective land for non-agricultural construction and arbitrarily expanding the scale of construction land. It not only circumvents the statutory approval of agricultural land conversion and land expropriation, but also evades the payment of relevant taxes and fees and the fulfillment of the statutory obligations of balance between cultivated land occupation and compensation. It is a typical illegal act. Its common manifestations include land-using units or individuals directly signing agreements with village committees to lease land, grassroots governments directly leasing rural collective land, grassroots governments acting as land leasing intermediaries to promote land leasing, villagers renting their own contracted land, and village committees renting farmers' contracted land for non-agricultural construction.

The relevant department head of Longshan Subdistrict Office said in an interview with The Paper: "This matter not only involves the office level, but also the district government departments, and the situation is quite complicated." After verification with relevant departments, it was confirmed that the villagers' land occupation compensation was paid according to the standard of 1,468 yuan per year, and there was no arrears. The relevant materials can be provided at any time to prove this. As for the question of "renting instead of requisitioning", the District Natural Resources Bureau has already given a clear answer.

On January 8 this year, the Natural Resources Bureau of Zhangqiu District, Jinan City, made a response regarding Gao Moumou’s petition.

The article stated that based on the "Application for Investigation into Illegal Land Use" transferred by the Ministry of Natural Resources and the "Notice on Investigating and Handling the Illegal Land Expropriation Issues Reported by the People at the Longshan Sub-district Office in Zhangqiu District, Jinan City" issued by the Shandong Provincial Department of Natural Resources, the bureau immediately launched an investigation into the issues reported.

Gao Moumou's report that the land involved in the case was not expropriated within the expropriation scope, but that the land use was obtained through leasing instead of expropriation, and that the collective land was illegally converted into state-owned land was not in line with the facts. On December 30, 2006, the Shandong Provincial People's Government approved the conversion of 136,554 square meters of agricultural land (all cultivated land) in Longshan Sub-district Office, Zhangqiu City into construction land, and the above-mentioned agricultural land was approved for expropriation after conversion. The Zhangqiu Municipal People's Government has expropriated the land in accordance with the approval, and the expropriation procedure is legal, the expropriation compensation is in place, and there is no problem of illegal expropriation.

A person familiar with the matter told The Paper that the contract obtained by the villagers was obtained through government information disclosure. The contract clearly stipulates that the compensation fee will be paid annually, which is actually a form of leasing to replace the expropriation compensation that should have been paid in one lump sum. This practice is a typical "renting instead of expropriation". According to national laws and regulations, in the case of land expropriation, land compensation, population resettlement, pension insurance and other related matters should be completed in one lump sum.

“If it is to be converted into construction land, it must first be expropriated as state-owned land, and then the nature of the land must be adjusted. In this process, it involves whether the signed land use contract and the corresponding approvals of various departments are legal, and the content is very critical.” The above-mentioned person believes that at present, based on the existing contracts, it cannot be shown that it is an actual expropriation act carried out in accordance with the law.

The person said that the "rent-in-lieu-of-expropriation" agreement is an invalid agreement according to the law. In this case, if the consent of all villagers is obtained, a new expropriation agreement can be established. If consent cannot be obtained, the cultivated land should be returned.