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Q: What'll happen to foreigners' property in China after their "70 year lease" runs out?
It seems like China doesn't want foreigners owning too much property here or even staying forever (thanks immigration laws). But I'm sure there must be quite a few foreigners who bought multiple properties years ago when everything was still much cheaper and restrictions less tight. Will the gov allow them to renew their "ownership" lease or will they just take it away from them?
Since the Chinese gov can take any property back at any time they want without due process of law, I think it's a moot point to be worrying about 70 years from now.
Property prices in China are getting so over inflated that you could rent for 100 years and it'll still be cheaper than buying an equivalent sized house.
I think that the 70 year restriction has applied to Chinese nationals for a long time, it is not targeted to foreigners.
But to be honest ... Do you think that any house in China is going to last for 70 years? After 5 years they already look like they are 50 years old
No one knows what will happen. As the concept of private property ownership is new in China, no property has been on private hands for that long.
As far as I know, the law stipulates that the 70 lease is automatically renewed when it runs out. However I would guess in reality, if you happen to be a land developer, that would be a strategically wise time to grease the relevant official so you can re-develop land.
Doesn't matter. In 70 years, China will be an uninhabitable wasteland.
First of all you're not allowed a mortgage as a foreigner. If you had enough money to buy a house outright here, then you have enough money to not worry about these kinds of problems. I don't think foreigners are actually allowed to buy residential properties but I'm not sure about that, you'd have to check.
Plus like erokose said, houses here don't really last for 70 years. They're usually torn down and replaced with something new. In which case you'll be relocated.
Foreigners aren't even allowed credit cards. Good luck trying to buy a property in your own name.
ambivalentmace:
i have bought property in my name and credit card but it was very difficult , you have to sign your name with a chinese character 16 times on different documents to get your 5 books of ownership. with a lawyer and translator, a real pain in the ass, bought a small place in a good location but nothing else unless its next to the ocean for me. the credit card takes a large deposit. not paying on credit card in china for 60 days will put your ass in jail. the lease on land is supposed to renew but the lease payment is seperate from the property purchase, many owners never pay the lease payment. not sure what happens to them. the real pain in the ass is 3 payments. house purchase , parking space purchase , and land lease purchase. i will give the house to my current wife anyway but i dont expect property wil be worth much in 20 years anyway, wages will never rise enough to pay the outrageous credit being created here, one trillion dollars in new credit in the first quarter this year on a 8 triliion dollar gdp is insanity repeating itself.
xunliang:
Your credit card was done in your company's name through, right?
My brother in law owns his own company here and he's not short of money, and even he was denied a credit card registered through his company. So I'm guessing your lying. Unless you're ridiculously rich in which case the Chinese would probably love to give you a credit card. As for a mortgage, I just looked into buying a house myself and they told me they can't give a mortgage to foreigners.ambivalentmace:
china merchants bank gave me the credit card 50000 rmb limit with a savings of 100000 deposit, has a visa logo, works like a credit card anywhere and the balance is payed at end of the month from your savings account.
i never said i had a mortgage, paid cash, i dont like to owe anybody money, especially a chinese bank.
since i have no family in the states, had no choice on the credit card, none of my credit cards from america will work here , to much fraud here, even my bank want allow my atm card to work here unless i call in advance that im using it. will rogers said a man who knows what he is worth is not worth much, that being said i am not rich but i was in the top 10 percent taxable income category until i decided my productivity was not going to be given to uncle sam anymore and dropped off the radar. working half a year for the government is financial slavery so i retired early.im comfortable, ira starts at 59, social sec 62, military pension already getting.
ambivalentmace:
in the near future china may allow foreign ownership of property to bring more capital in to slow down the bubble from bursting but im not sure if foreigners can be roped in to the ponzi scheme.
I am glad this topic has been brought up.
My current girlfriend is a foreign property investor agent. She buys properties for rich Chinese in other countries. She gets paid a salary for this which is a rubbish one in comparison to what she could get paid for doing something else, but she does get commission (I don't know how much), but she has told me she can't be paid it for three months.
What a load of bollocks, eh?
There's more.
I am finding out even more things that make me hate China and Chinese people. Even more so than I have done before. This is a generalisation, and 'hate' is a strong word, but, it infuriates me a lot.
What does?
Hillary Clinton publicly stated in a speech a few years ago that China should allow us the same access and rights in China that Chinese enjoy elsewhere in the world. This is the best thing I have ever heard come from the mouth of any American. It hits the nail on the head. This was back in 2010. Since then, I have learnt just how unfair things are.
We already know how Chinese think they can just bribe their way in life everywhere, such as the recent incident at Bath University (there is a thread elsewhere on this site).
On Sunday, my girlfriend said to me that a client wanted to buy a house in Canada, in a certain area, but only on the basis that their child can get in to a certain school. The school had said already that it was full and there were no available places. This infuriated me. The school is full - end of! My girlfriend wanted me to call the school or estate agent and do something about it. What can I do? Oh, wait, money? Well, only if they are prepared to pay for a new teacher for a whole year, in a different classroom.
With regards property, we can' buy one property here, so my girlfriend tells me, but, I was told by a friend who has a property that we can only do this after being here so many years. The other information provided by responders on this thread back this up in various ways. Look at the obstacles. Yet, look at what Chinese can do in the world. It infuriates me.
Sorry for the rant.
Hulk:
Here's an upvote to encourage your ranting. Let it all out, Carl. Let it all out. We're all here to rant and rave about anything China.
Nessquick:
Kindergarden in our community is also "full and no place" for our son, who is living in there for 2 years. First places are for Shanghainese, later for others who own house in area, ... We tried a small bribe trough come guanxi, but the amount was too small, probably can not hire the teacher for 1 year specially for our son only, as above said. crazy enough, if we want buy house ( if we have those money) we still can buy only in Anhui province, as my wife is from there, so it does not help us any way. TIC.
the land lease purchase is about 10 to 15 percent of the house price for the 70 year lease, its not part of the home purchase, separate transaction paid to the local government.
