Advice on Handling Property Dispute

[thedthawk]

This is a pretty standard story of local governments + property developers throwing away the rights of lower-class citizens in pursuit of growth and money. Really, if you’re tired of hearing about this stuff, you can skip to the end. But if not, here’s the situation as briefly as I can manage to tell it:

(Background: I’m 26, have lived in Shenzhen for two years, and I’m engaged to a girl from Henan province.)

My fiancee’s family has a house in Xuchang, Henan. For the last several months the family has been in talks with a local development firm about selling the rights of this land over to the developer so they can tear it down and build something giant in its place. The whole yard is involved in these talks individually. Laulau believes (rightfully) that their offers didn’t match the value of the property and so they have not come to an agreement.

Recently things have gotten heated as the developer is trying to get the remaining holdouts to move. Local thugs have been employed to force people out, while destruction crews go to work. (During one shoving match by said thugs one of the residents fell, hit his head on some debris, and later died.) A few weeks ago my future mother-in-law sustained minor injuries at the hands of these thugs as they forced her out of the house and tore it to the ground. The local authorities, being part of the development deal, naturally turn a blind eye to all this illegal activity.

The developer now says that her family will not receive any compensation, and is refusing any further meetings or phone calls. The developers have what they want, of course. We have a lawyer in the family, though land rights is not her area of study. They went to the local municipal court, where they were told that the court is not hearing ANY land-right disputes of this kind. They can’t even state their case. Not surprising, really.

SO, with all that said: What are the options here for my fiancee’s family? I understand this is hardly the place to get legal advice, so maybe what I’m asking as much as anything, is whether anybody knows good resources I can turn to for advice or to learn about options. My fiancee’s mother is already in a fragile state over this whole thing, as the destruction of this property effectively destroys her inheritance. (Thankfully, they do have another place to stay.) If anyone can give me a point in the right direction it would be appreciated.

[abcdefg]

The whole yard is involved in these talks individually. Laulau believes (rightfully) that their offers didn’t match the value of the property and so they have not come to an agreement.

Is it only your mother-in-law's family who feels that the settlement offer was unfair, or do the other small property owners in her block feel the same way? If the latter is the case, could they form an alliance and bargain as a larger unit? That might give them a little more clout. I realize that things may have now passed the point where that is feasible.

The developer now says that her family will not receive any compensation, and is refusing any further meetings or phone calls.

This sounds extremely unjust. They are essentially stealing her property. What does the lawyer in the family say about precedents for this type of "might makes right" behavior? Would a higher court hear the case?

(Disclaimer: I have no legal training and have no special knowledge in such matters.)

[thedthawk]

Is it only your mother-in-law's family who feels that the settlement offer was unfair, or do the other small property owners in her block feel the same way?

I believe the vast majority of the owners have already settled, and I don't know their feelings about the fairness of the amounts. But yes, the point is gone where that collective bargaining power is gone.

This sounds extremely unjust. They are essentially stealing her property. What does the lawyer in the family say about precedents for this type of "might makes right" behavior? Would a higher court hear the case?

It's certainly unjust and is completely illegal in terms of Chinese law, but the enforcement of this law and the government corruption around it makes this kind of crap very common. See this study on farmer land grabs. 25% don't see as much as a fen.

Like I said, the lawyer in our family doesn't work anywhere in this part of the law. I've suggested to them that they find a better lawyer with expertise in this, if such a lawyer exists there. I imagine government oversight lawyers aren't treated too kindly. I don't know myself of any legal precedent. I'm seriously no lawyer, but every case in the media I've run across doesn't get solved in the courts except by mediation. If we're talking non-legal precedent, there's always Wukan. But my in-laws wouldn't have heard about Wukan on account of the censorship.

What the family is doing right now is attempting to talk to officials at the provincial level in Zhengzhou. I don't know the first thing about the court structure and jurisdiction in China, but it may be that a higher court will not hear such a case. I will ask. I think it might also be an option (though sort of a crappy one) to try to get a court at some level to mediate a compensation amount. This would surely end in less money than the family wants, but it's something.

Thinking like an American, one of my first instincts is "GO TO THE PRESS." But again, there's so many censorship and corruption issues around that, and I see it as a last option.

[gato]

Sorry to hear this. What did the lawyer in the family say? He or she is probably in the better position to advise you than anyone on the forum.

Isn't the responsibility for compensation with the government? The developer may reimburse the government for the cost. What did the local government say?

This is in the city rather a rural area, right?

[Flying Pigeon]

If it's in a rural area and there's farmland involved, this organization might be able to help.

http://www.landesa.org/

They are based in America, but have an office in Beijing.

[jiacheng]

Hearing stuff like this just makes me fume. It might not be prudent, but in the absence of assitance from higher authorities, it would be really satisfying to see some mob justice inflicted on the developers and conspirators. I'd gather that the folks who are in on the conspiracy are likely not looking for any publicity. If people have died over this, then that is the kind of thing that should make ppl feel outraged to the point they might invoke the human flesh search engine.

[thedthawk]

Gato: I have a lot of questions for her (the lawyer), but haven't been able to ask them yet. I will update this thread when I know more from her end. I'll also try to see who within the Xuchang municipal government they've tried to talk to. I don't know how the compensation works exactly. I know the government has to be the one selling the land rights (obviously) but I don't know which parties are *supposed* to be responsible for handling directly dealing out the compensation. The government entity doing the sale would make the most sense though. I'll try to dig more into this side of things. And yes, this is within Xuchang city, and not rural farmland.

Dean: Many thanks for the resource. That looks like a fantastic group doing good work. This particular situation isn't rural though. It's more of an old village-within-a-city thing. (If there's a good Chinese phrase for this I've forgotten it.)

Jiacheng: Yes, it makes me fume too, but one of the reasons I'm searching for better options is because it so quickly looks like violence is the only way to be heard. I'm at least assured that the level-headed members of the family are making sure nobody does anything extreme.

[abcdefg]

It's more of an old village-within-a-city thing. (If there's a good Chinese phrase for this I've forgotten it.)

城中村

[gato]

It is a political problem just as much as legal problem, especially it seems that the local court isn't willing to fulfill its responsibility. The displaced residents should think about ways to get their message to the authorities, either locally or at the provincial level.

[Flying Pigeon]

Maybe some media attention might help.

I recently read a somewhat similar story on sina.com. Also takes place in Henan. Slightly different from your situation, but it involves forced demolition and someone died because they were beaten by thugs.

Here is a link to the story:

http://news.sina.com.cn/s/2012-05-06/050324373627.shtml

It looks like the story was originally published by 南方都市报. The reporter was 孙旭阳 (Sun Xuyang). You could try contacting the paper and ask if they'd be willing to send a reporter out.

You could also contact a paper out of Zhengzhou. They've reported on similar situations as well.

http://www.dahe.cn

[thedthawk]

To follow up on some of the stuff Gato said earlier: The local government sold the land to the developers (as expected) but rather than conducting the compensation negotiations themselves like they should they've essentiall "hired" the development company to also handle the negotiations. So attempts to contact local officials are met with "talk to the development company, they're handling this." And attempts to talk to the development company post-demolition are met with nothing or "f*** you." I guess this provides a thin veil of plausible deniability for the local officials when and if this whole thing comes back to bite them.

So we're trying to bring this all up at the provincial level in Zhengzhou. Dean, thanks a million for the newspaper references. I think this path will have an even better chance of working if all the victims do this together. But really that goes for all of these options. I learned today that on the same day as the in-law's demolition, approx. 20 other houses were forced down. I have no idea why they all aren't working together on this (cultural norm? or maybe just my in-laws are particularly stubborn...)

Last side note: Our lawyer-in-the-family works on cases involving divorce and minor domestic disputes/assaults. In case anyone was wondering why she's not up to date on her property law. I'm still advising them to find another lawyer with some experience behind this.

Thanks all for the help so far.