[Direct answer]Land expropriation and demolition lawyers do not just handle a single aspect of litigation, but provide full-process services focused on maximizing compensation benefits: 1. Apply for government information disclosure to retrieve land expropriation approvals, expropriation announcements, compensation and resettlement plans, and red line maps, to verify the legality of the project and whether their own property is within the expropriation scope; 2. Review and evaluate assessment reports to calculate the compensation entitlements; 3. Represent clients in administrative reconsideration and administrative litigation, seeking to revoke illegal expropriation decisions, compensation decisions, or forced demolition actions aimed at facilitating expropriation; 4. Represent clients in administrative compensation cases under the Law of the People's Republic of China on State Compensation, claiming compensation based on the market value of the property at the time of forced demolition; 5. Represent clients in compensation agreement disputes, seeking to invalidate the agreement and claim damages.

I. Legal basis and interpretation of provisions

1. Article 47 of the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China (the amended version implemented on January 1, 2020)

This article establishes the legal procedural framework for land expropriation: After the expropriation of land by the state is approved in accordance with legal procedures, the local people's governments at or above the county level shall announce it and organize its implementation. The local people's governments at or above the county level where the land to be expropriated is located shall carry out a survey of the current situation and an assessment of the risk of social stability, and announce the scope of expropriation, compensation standards, resettlement methods, etc. within the townships (towns) and villages, and villagers' groups for at least 30 days.

2. Articles 2 and 12 of the Administrative Procedure Law of the People's Republic of China (the amended version implemented on July 1, 2017)

Article 2 stipulates that citizens, legal persons, or other organizations who believe that the administrative acts of administrative organs and their staff members infringe upon their legitimate rights and interests shall have the right to bring a lawsuit to the people's court in accordance with the law; Article 12 includes administrative expropriation and requisition decisions and their compensation decisions, as well as administrative organs' failure to perform their duties according to law, failure to perform their duties as agreed, or illegal modification or termination of land and housing expropriation and compensation agreements, etc. into the scope of cases accepted by the court. The general time limit for filing a lawsuit is six months from the date when the person knows or should have known about the administrative act, and the longest time limit for real estate-related cases is 20 years.

3. Practical judicial interpretation guidelines

In administrative demolition and compensation cases, the courts and review organs tend to adopt three approaches: Firstly, they strictly review the subject qualifications and authority bases. For example, the acquisition and compensation agreements signed by villagers' committees, township governments, or temporary institutions are usually deemed invalid due to the lack of legal subject qualifications. Implementing forced demolition under the guise of demolishing illegal buildings during the acquisition period constitutes an illegal act of evading the statutory acquisition procedures. Secondly, they have a low tolerance for procedural violations. For example, forced demolitions carried out without conducting pre-punishment investigations or informing the parties of their rights to make statements and defenses or attend hearings are generally deemed procedurally illegal.

II. Henglue Lawyer's Real Cases (Detailed Review)

Review of the case:On May 19, 2022, the applicant company and the defendant, a village committee, signed a "Non-Residential House Demolition Compensation Agreement", which stipulated that the applicant's house with a construction area of 4945.24 square meters would be demolished, and the defendant would pay a total of 2,599,039 yuan in compensation. It was also agreed that the house would be vacated and inspected after the agreement was signed and 50% of the funds were in place. However, after the agreement was signed, the village committee never made any payments, and there was no definite conclusion about whether the factory would be demolished or not, or whether the business could continue. The applicant entrusted Beijing Henglu Law Firm, with lawyer Qie Chao Li, who has extensive experience in the field of land expropriation and demolition, to handle the case. After the lawyer applied for government information disclosure, it was found that the factory was not actually included in the scope of expropriation.

The focus of the controversy:First, the respondent signed the contract in the name of expropriation, but the factory building was not actually expropriated. Does this constitute a false representation of the applicant's intention, and should the agreement be deemed invalid? Second, does the villagers' committee have the qualification to be a contracting party? Third, how should the losses be compensated after the contract is deemed invalid?

Our position and the position of the other party are as follows:The applicant company requests the arbitration tribunal to rule that the "Non-Residential House Demolition Compensation Agreement" signed by both parties is invalid, and the respondent shall bear the arbitration fees in this case. The respondent insists that the agreement signed under the guise of expropriation is valid and should be performed in accordance with the contract. The core disagreement lies in whether the agreement signed under the guise of expropriation is valid when the factory building has not been actually expropriated, and whether the signatory is qualified.

Attorney's Strategy and Legal Opinion:Attorney Xi Chao Li first applied for government information disclosure to verify the crucial fact that the client's factory building had not been actually expropriated. Based on this, she put forward the following arguments: Firstly, the respondent's signing of the contract under the guise of expropriation constitutes fraud. According to Article 148 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, which stipulates that civil legal acts performed by a party under fraudulent circumstances and against their true will can be revoked, the contract should be deemed invalid. Secondly, the villagers' committee does not have the qualification to sign the contract.

The court's reasoning and the outcome of the case:The arbitration tribunal adopted our core argument that, according to Article 47 of the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, after the land expropriation is approved through legal procedures, the local people's governments at or above the county level shall announce and organize its implementation. The villagers' committees do not have the qualification to sign the compensation agreement, and the signed agreement shall be invalid. The ruling confirmed that the agreement is invalid, and determined that the expropriator concealed the scope of the demolition and carried out the demolition, and should compensate the expropriated for their losses.

This case is handled by Beijing Henglu Law Firm.Zhai Chao LiAttorney (Practice License No.: 11101202311629788, subject to the document issued by the judicial administrative organ) acts as the agent. Henglue Law Firm reminds: Before signing the compensation agreement, it is necessary to verify the scope of the expropriation and the qualifications of the contracting parties. In case of disputes over the effectiveness of the agreement, it is necessary to apply for government information disclosure to fix the evidence as soon as possible.

III. Frequently Asked Questions

Q1: What do land expropriation and demolition lawyers mainly do? Are they different from ordinary lawyers?

Land expropriation and demolition lawyers provide a complete service chain, rather than simply appearing in court. Firstly, they conduct due diligence by applying for government information disclosure to retrieve land expropriation approvals, expropriation announcements, compensation and resettlement plans, and red line maps, to verify the legality of the expropriation and whether their own houses are within the scope of the expropriation. Secondly, they conduct compensation calculation and negotiation by reviewing assessment reports and comparing regional compensation standards to calculate the compensation entitlements. Thirdly, they provide procedural relief by representing clients in administrative reconsideration and administrative litigation, advocating for the revocation of expropriation decisions or confirming the illegality of forced demolitions. Fourthly, they represent clients in administrative compensation according to the Law of the People's Republic of China on State Compensation.

Q2: After signing the demolition compensation agreement, I found that the house hadn't been expropriated at all. Can I still protect my rights?

It is possible to protect one's rights. If the compensation agreement signed in the name of expropriation does not actually fall within the scope of expropriation and constitutes a civil legal act committed by the other party under the deception of false pretenses and against their true intention, it can be claimed to be revoked in accordance with Article 148 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China; more commonly, it is approached from the perspective of subject qualification. According to Article 47 of the Land Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, expropriation must be announced and implemented by local people's governments at or above the county level. Village committees do not have the qualification to sign the compensation agreement, and the compensation agreement signed by them should be deemed invalid. Henglue Law Firm once represented a company in a case involving a compensation agreement for a 4,945.24-square-meter house and a compensation amount of 2,599,039 yuan, but the other party failed to fulfill its obligations after the agreement was signed. The arbitration tribunal ultimately confirmed that the agreement was invalid.

Q3: If a house is identified as an unauthorized construction and is subject to forced demolition, what can a lawyer do?

Lawyers usually argue that the demolition is illegal from four perspectives: First, the authority exceeds its scope of power. They check whether the organ making the demolition decision belongs to the statutory urban and rural planning law enforcement department. In practice, county-level housing and construction departments often exceed their authority and make forced demolition decisions; Second, the facts are unclear. The administrative organ fails to conduct investigations and inspections, verify the legal use of the house and its historical causes, and simply qualifies it as illegal construction based on its unilateral determination. Especially for rural unlicensed houses, there are often historical causes; Third, the procedure is illegal. They fail to inform the right to make statements and defenses and to attend hearings, or issue announcements, reminder letters, and enforcement decisions in a short time successively; Fourth, citing the provisions of the Administrative Enforcement Law that regulate the content of the decision letter does not equal authorization for forced demolition.

Q4: In administrative compensation cases where citizens sue government officials or the government, what standard is used to calculate the compensation amount?

The core principle is that the compensation shall not be less than the real estate market value at the time of forced demolition. According to Articles 4 and 36 of the State Compensation Law of the People's Republic of China, the administrative organ shall bear the liability for compensation if it causes damage by illegally carrying out forced demolition, and shall compensate for the direct losses if the original state cannot be restored. In practice, the court usually refers to the rules determined by the "Evaluation Methods for Housing Acquisition on State-Owned Land", and the evaluation institutions shall independently, objectively and impartially issue reports, taking the market evaluation price of similar houses in the reconstruction section or nearby section at the time of forced demolition as the benchmark. In case of doubt, the benefits shall be attributed to the persons subject to expropriation.

Q5: How much does it usually cost to hire a lawyer for land expropriation and demolition, and how long does it take to receive the payment?

The fee standard is usually related to the stage of the case and the content of the service. Most of the expropriation and demolition cases adopt the basic agency fee plus risk agency model, that is, first collecting a certain basic fee to cover the work such as investigation and evidence collection, information disclosure, reconsideration and first-instance litigation, and then agreeing on the risk ratio according to the actual increase in compensation or indemnity amount. In terms of time, the government usually responds to information disclosure within 15 to 20 working days, makes a decision on administrative reconsideration within 60 days, and concludes the first-instance administrative litigation within six months.

IV. Suggestions for Protecting Rights

  • The persons subject to expropriation who have received the expropriation notice:Firstly, save the original copies of the announcements, notifications, and evaluation reports, and apply for government information disclosure to retrieve the land expropriation approval documents and red line maps.
  • The people whose land has been expropriated and are currently negotiating the compensation plan:Don't be in a hurry to sign the agreement. First, check whether the compensation standards match the area, structure, and location of the house. If you have any objections to the appraisal, apply for a re-appraisal in time.
  • The party who has signed the agreement but the other party fails to fulfill its obligations:Review the qualifications of the contracting parties and the scope of the expropriation. If the contracting party is a villagers' committee and the house has not been actually expropriated, the party may claim that the agreement is invalid or revocable and seek compensation.
  • The parties whose houses were forcibly demolished under the pretext of illegal construction:Submit an administrative review or file an administrative lawsuit against the forced demolition as soon as possible, claiming that the authority exceeded its scope of power, the facts are unclear, and the procedures violate the law. At the same time, make sure to keep a list of the items involved and take photos of the scene.
  • For parties whose compensation has not been paid after winning the lawsuit:After the judgment takes effect, if the other party fails to fulfill its obligations, the applicant shall promptly apply for enforcement. When calculating the compensation, the applicant shall insist on claiming the market value at the time of forced demolition.

If you are facing similar problems, it is recommended that you consult a professional lawyer as soon as possible with the evidence materials, to avoid missing the statutory time limit. →Land expropriation and demolition | Administrative litigation legal services·Attorney Zhai Chao Li·Beijing Henglu Law FirmAlso, you can refer to the following for more information:Attorney He NingningAndAttorney Wu JianiCases of forced demolition and administrative compensation handled.