(Issued on January 8, 2010 in accordance with Decree No. 23 of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality, amended for the first time on September 30, 2015 in accordance with Decree No. 132 of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality, amended for the second time on November 14, 2019 in accordance with Decree No. 168 of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality and amended for the third time on November 11, 2020 in accordance with Decree No. 176 of the People's Government of Guangzhou Municipality)

　　Chapter I     General Provisions

　　Article 1.These measures are formulated in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Land, the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Administration of Urban Real Estate and other relevant laws and regulations, in the light of the actual situation of this Municipality, and with a view to strengthening the administration of land in this Municipality, disposing and making full use of idle land according to law and effectively protecting cultivated land.

　　Article 2.These Measures are applicable to the disposal of idle land within the administrative area of this Municipality.

　　Article 3.The municipal land administrative department shall be responsible for the disposal of idle land in this Municipality and organize the implementation of these Measures.

　　The administrative departments of development and reform, planning, finance, construction, agriculture, State-owned assets, forestry and landscape architecture shall assist in the implementation of these Measures in accordance with their respective functions and duties.

　　The town people's governments and sub-district offices in the places where idle land is located shall assist the competent land administrative departments with the investigation and handling of the idle land, and assist the competent administrative departments of agriculture, forestry and landscape architecture in inspecting and supervising the idle land restored for cultivation and greening, and the status quo of such restoration.

　　Article 4.The municipal land administrative department shall establish an inspection system for idle land and conduct regular inspection on land utilization.

　　Entities and individuals may report on or inform against idle land.

　　Article 5.The term "idle land" herein includes idle land with completed construction land procedures and idle land without completed construction land procedures.

　　The idle land with completed construction land procedures refers to the land with one of the following circumstances:

　　(1) Where development and construction fails to commenced even upon the expiration of one-year period from such deadline for commencement of development and construction as agreed in the contract for paid use of State-owned land or stipulated the approval letter for construction land;

　　(2) Where development and construction fails to commenced even upon the expiration of one-year period from the effective date of the contract for paid use of State-owned land or the date of issuance of the approval letter for construction land, if no deadline for commencement of development and construction is agreed in the contract for paid use of State-owned land or stipulated the approval letter for construction land;

　　(3)Where development and construction has commenced, but the land area used for development and construction accounts for less than one third of the total land area for commencement of development and construction, or the amount of investment in existing construction (excluding land acquisition cost) accounts for less than 25% of the total amount of investment in construction (excluding land acquisition cost), and the development and construction is suspended for at least one consecutive year except due to Force Majeure or acts of any government or its relevant departments;

　　(4) Any other circumstances stipulated by laws and administrative regulations.

　　The idle land without completed construction land procedures refers to the land that has gone beyond the validity period of or the time limit prescribed in various documents issued by a competent land administrative department, notifying any land user entity to go through the construction land procedures, and for which the land user entity has not obtained the approval of land for construction.

　　Article 6.In case of any delay specified in the second or third paragraphs of Article 5 of these Measures caused due to Force Majeure, acts of any government or its relevant departments, or preliminary work necessary for the commencement of development, the period affected shall not count for the purpose of determining the specified time limit.

　　The acts of the government and its relevant departments that cause a delay as mentioned in the preceding paragraph include:

　　(1) Where the competent planning administrative department refuses to accept the land user entity's application for planning permission due to planning adjustment or, after acceptance of the application, delays in issuing the planning permission documents after acceptance, which causes land to be idle, except the land has been idle for two years when the land user entity applies for planning permission;

　　(2) Where the ownership of the land is not clear or does not meet the conditions for the delivery of the land stipulated in the contract for the paid use of State-owned land, so that the land user entity cannot commence the development and construction on schedule;

　　(3) Where, due to cultural relics protection, municipal construction or any other reasons, the government and its relevant departments inform the land user entity in writing to stop construction, thus causing a delay, unless caused by any illegal acts of the land user entity;

　　(4) Where a delay is caused due to any major adjustment of relevant national policies;

　　(5) Where any other act of the government or its relevant departments causes a delay.

　　The preliminary work necessary for the commencement of development and construction, as mentioned in the first paragraph of this Article, does not include the work to be undertaken by the land user entities.

　　Article 7.The term "commencement of development" herein means that the foundation construction has been implemented in case of housing construction projects or that the water, electricity, access and site leveling works have been implemented in case of any other construction projects.

　　The term "foundation construction" mentioned in the preceding paragraph refers to the legally approved implementation of construction of the substructure transferring load from a building to its foundation.

　　Chapter II Disposal of idle land

　　Section 1 General

　　Article 8.Idle land shall be investigated and identified by the municipal land administrative department.

　　The investigation and disposal of idle land shall be carried out by parcel of land.

　　Article 9.The municipal land administrative department may take the following measures to carry out idle land investigation:

　　(1) Questioning the parties concerned and other witnesses;

　　(2) On-site investigation, photographing and video shooting;

　　(3) Consulting and/or copying the relevant land use approval documents, land rights documents and materials of the entities or individuals under investigation;

　　(4) Requiring the entities or individuals under to give explanations on issues related to land rights.

　　Article 10.When conducting idle land investigation, the municipal land administrative department shall issue a notice of idle land investigation to the land user entity concerned.

　　The land user entity shall, within fifteen (15) days from the date of service of the idle land investigation notice, submit the land development and utilization situation, relevant evidence and advice on follow-up land utilization to the competent investigation department in writing.

　　If the land user entity has confirmed in writing the fact that the land is idle when applying for postponement of the deadline for commencement of construction and development or for the approval letter for construction land change, the competent land administrative department may directly draw up a plan for the disposal of idle land after verification.

　　Article 11.If, due to any Force Majeure event, act of the government and its relevant departments, or preliminary work necessary for the commencement of development, development and construction cannot be carried out or the approval letter for construction land cannot be obtained, then the land user entity concerned may submit relevant supporting materials in writing to the competent land administrative department within any of the following time limits:

　　(1) Within fifteen (15) days from the date of occurrence of force majeure or the act of the government and its relevant departments;

　　(2) Sixty (60) days before the expiration of the time limit specified in Article 5 of these Measures;

　　(3) Within fifteen (15) days from the date of service of the notice of idle land investigation.

　　If the land user entity submits such supporting materials to the competent land administrative department in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the competent land administrative department shall start the investigation within seven (7) days from the date of receiving the materials.

　　If such materials meet the provisions of Article 6 of these Measures and are verified as true, the competent land administrative department shall make a decision to postpone the time limit or draw up a plan for idle land disposal; if the situation is complicated, the competent land administrative department may, together with relevant departments, escalate it to the people's government at the corresponding level for deliberation and decision.

　　Article 12.Based on the facts found out in the investigation of idle land and according to the provisions of relevant laws, regulations and rules, the municipal land administrative department shall handle it as follows:

　　(1) If the land meets the requirements of Article 5 of these Measures, then the municipal land administrative department shall issue a Certificate of Idle Land Identification to the owner of the right to use the State-owned construction land and draw up a disposal plan for the idle land;

　　(2) If the land does not meet the requirements of Article 5 of these Measures and does not constitute idle land, then the municipal land administrative department shall inform the land user entity thereof in writing.

　　If a mortgage is created on or preservation measures are taken on idle land according to law, then the municipal land administrative department shall, when drawing up a disposal plan for idle land, inform the mortgagee or the organ such preservation measures are taken against to participate in the drawing up of the disposal plan.

　　Article 13.The disposal plan for idle land shall be subject to the approval by the people's government that originally approved the use of such land. After the disposal plan of idle land is approved, the municipal land administrative department shall organize the implementation of the plan and serve on the land user entity a decision on the disposal of idle land.

　　Article 14.The municipal land administrative department shall calculate and collect the idle land fee according to the following standards if the land is confirmed to be idle for one year, except for the delay in commencement of development and construction caused due to Force Majeure or any acts of the government or the relevant government departments or by the preliminary work necessary for commencement of development and construction：

　　(1) If the land user entity obtains the land use right by way of grant, the idle land fee shall be calculated and charged at the rate of 20% of the price of land grant;

　　(2) If the land use unit obtains the land use right by allocation, the idle land fee shall be calculated and charged at the rate of 20% of the price of land allocation, if any; if there is no price of land allocation, the idle land fee shall be calculated and charged at the rate of 20% of the price of the land use right at the time of allocation.

　　If the land is used as temporary green space and square in accordance with item (1) of Article 17 of these Measures, then the land shall be exempted from the idle land fee during the period of temporary use; if the land is used as a parking lot in accordance with item (2) of Article 17 of these Measures, then the idle land fee shall be charged at the rate of 60% of the original rate during the period of temporary use.

　　The land user entity shall pay the land idle fee within the time limit specified in the advice of payment of land idle fee. If the land user entity fails to pay the land idle fee within the time limit, then it shall, from the due date of payment, charge an overdue fine at the daily rate of 1 ‰ of the total amount of the land idle fee payable for each day overdue.

　　Section 2 Disposal of idle land with completed construction land procedures

　　Article 15.The idle land with completed construction land procedures, the idleness of which is caused by any Force Majeure event, act of the government and its relevant departments, or preliminary work necessary for the commencement of construction and development, shall be disposed of in (including) the following ways:

　　(1) Postpone the time of development and construction to no later than one year from the date of approval of the disposal plan of idle land;

　　(2) Change the land use, and continue the development and construction after going through the relevant procedures;

　　(3) Arrange for temporary use, and apply for approval of development anew after the conditions for development and construction of the original project are met;

　　(4)Take back the idle land with consideration；

　　(5)Other disposal methods prescribed by the municipal land administrative department according to the actual situation.。

　　If idle land is disposed of in accordance with the provisions of Items (1), (2) and (3) of the preceding paragraph, the municipal land administrative department shall sign a supplementary contract with the land user entity for the paid use of State-owned land; if the land value increases, then the land price shall be adjusted in accordance with the relevant provisions; at the same time, the period of land idleness shall be suspended from the date of service of the decision on the disposal of idle land; if the land remains idle after the expiration of the time limit prescribed in the decision on the disposal of idle land, the period of land idleness shall continue from the next day after the expiration of the prescribed time limit.

　　Article 16.The following conditions shall be met, if the idle land is disposed of by postponing the time of development and construction, or changing the use of land for further development and construction, in accordance with the provisions of Items (1) and (2) of Article 15 of these Measures:

　　(1) The overall land use plan and urban-rural plan are complied with;

　　(2) The industrial land policy is complied with; and

　　(3) A financial strength that accounts for more than 30% of the total construction investment is available.

　　Article 17.The idle land that has obtained the State-owned land use certificate may be temporarily used as follows if the land user entity makes an application:

　　(1) The land user entity is responsible for the construction and maintenance of temporary green space and square;

　　(2) The idle land is temporarily used as a parking lot.

　　If the application for use as a temporary parking lot is approved, the land user entity shall go through the relevant procedures in accordance with the provisions of the Regulations of Guangzhou Municipality on Parking Lots.

　　The period of temporary use of idle land shall not exceed 2 years. Upon the expiration of the period of temporary use, the land user entity shall clean up the site, complete the relevant procedures for the commencement of construction and commence the development and construction within thirty (30) days.

　　Article 18.The idle land with completed construction land procedures which has been idle for two years accumulatively may be taken back by the government without consideration, except for the delay in commencement of development and construction caused due to Force Majeure or any acts of the government or the relevant government departments or by the preliminary work necessary for commencement of development and construction.

　　Section 3 Disposal of idle land without completed construction land procedures

　　Article 19.The idle land without completed construction land procedures shall be disposed of in (including) the following ways:

　　(1) Complete the procedures for construction land within a time limit, and proceed with development and construction after receiving the approval letter of construction land;

　　(2) Cancel the approval documents of construction land.

　　Article 20.If idle land is disposed of by completing the procedures for construction land within a time limit, in accordance with item (1) of Article 19 of these Measures, then the land user entity shall go through the relevant procedures in accordance with the following provisions:

　　(1) If, according to the relevant provisions, the land can be obtained through grant or allocation by agreement, then the land user entity shall, within six (6) months from the date of service of the decision on disposal of idle land, sign a contract for paid use of State-owned land with the competent land administrative department or obtain the decision on allocation of State-owned land, pay relevant taxes and receive the approval letter for construction land;

　　(2) If, according to the relevant provisions, the land should be obtained by public grant, the land user entity shall, in accordance with the requirements of the decision on disposal of idle land, perfect the necessary conditions for grant within a time limit and make an application for public grant.

　　If the idle land involves the expropriation of farmers' collective land, then the land user entity shall complete the procedures for compensation for land expropriation and resettlement before going through the relevant procedures specified in the preceding paragraph.

　　Article 21.If, for any idle land without completed procedures for construction land, the land user entity fails to go through the relevant procedures in accordance with Article 20 of these Measures, and the land has been idle for 2 years accumulatively, then the government may cancel the approval documents for construction land, and the preliminary inputs and expenses shall not be reimbursed.

　　Section 4 Recovery of idle land and cancellation of approval documents for construction land

　　Article 22.The municipal land administrative department shall recover the idle land or cancel the approval documents for construction land according to the following procedures:

　　(1) Investigate and collect evidence, and identify facts;

　　(2) Inform the parties concerned of the facts, grounds and basis for the decision to recover the idle land or cancel the approval documents for construction land;

　　(3) Listen to the statements and defense of the parties concerned; if a party concerned requests a hearing, then such hearing shall be held;

　　(4) Draw up a disposal plan for idle land and submit it to the people's government that originally approved the use of land for approval before making a decision to recover the idle land or cancel the approval documents for construction land;

　　(5) Serve the written decision to recover the idle land or cancel the approval documents for construction land on the parties concerned, and at the same time, inform the parties concerned of their rights to apply for administrative reconsideration and to bring an administrative lawsuit;

　　(6) Cancel the approval documents, land registration and land certificate of construction land, terminate the contract for paid use of State-owned land, and, at the same time, inform the development and reform, planning, construction and other relevant administrative departments thereof;

　　(7) Make an announcement to the public.

　　Article 23.After the idle land is recovered or the approval document for construction land is cancelled, the original land user entity shall still bear its original economic responsibility.

　　Article 24.If the idle land is recovered or the approval document for construction land is cancelled, but the original land user entity still occupies the land, it shall hand over the land according to the requirements of the decision on disposal of idle land within thirty (30) days from the date of service of the decision on disposal of idle land.

　　Article 25.If any idle land is recovered or its approval document for construction land is cancelled due to any the following circumstances, compensation shall be given to the original land user entity:

　　(1) Where the original land user entity fails to complete the construction land procedures or develop and construct the idle land within such time limit as required by the decision on disposal of idle land due to any act of the government and its relevant departments;

　　(2) Where the land has been idle for less than two years, but due to any acts of the government and its relevant departments, the land does not meet the conditions for commencement of development and construction any longer.

　　If compensation should be given to the original land user entity in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, then the monetary compensation amount shall be calculated according to the preliminary inputs confirmed by the financial appraisal, and the expenses required for the implementation of the compensation shall be included in the financial budget, and special funds shall be arranged for expenditures.

　　For idle land on which mortgage has been created according to law or against which preservation measures have been taken, if compensation should be given to the original land user entity after the idle land is recovered or the approval document for construction land is cancelled, the mortgagee or the organ imposing preservation measures shall be informed.

　　Article 26.If the recovery of idle land or cancellation of approval documents for construction land involves the expropriation of farmers' collective land, then the land shall be disposed of as follows:

　　(1) If compensation for land requisition is not implemented, then the land shall belong to the original owner of farmers' collective land;

　　(2) If compensation for land requisition has been implemented, then the land shall be included in the government reserves or the new land user shall be identified according to the law; if the procedures for compensation for land requisition have not been completed, the competent government land requisition and demolition authority or the new land user identified according to the law shall compensate and resettle the land-requisitioned entity according to the current compensation rates for land requisition.

　　Article 27.If the recovery of idle land or cancellation of approval documents for construction land involves compensation and resettlement for house demolition on urban State-owned land, then the land shall be disposed of as follows:

　　(1) If compensation and resettlement for house demolition are not implemented, then the land shall be used by the person relocated due to building demolition;

　　(2) If the compensation and resettlement for house demolition has been implemented, then the land shall be included in the government reserves or the new land user shall be identified according to the law; if the compensation and resettlement has not been completed, the government may appoint a demolition agency or the legally identified new land user to provide compensation and resettlement for the person relocated, and the temporary relocation fee incurred before the recovery of the idle land or the cancellation of the approval documents for construction land  shall be recovered by the relocated person against the person originally implementing grant recovering the original land in accordance with the law.

　　Chapter III Legal liability

　　Article 28.If any idle land can be reclaimed and the land user entity fails to fulfill the obligation of reclamation, the municipal land administrative department shall order it to make corrections within a time limit. If it fails to make corrections within the time limit, a fine may be imposed on the land user entity in the amount no more than two times the land reclamation fee calculated at the rate of no less than RMB￥10 per square meter.

　　Article 29.If a land user entity violates the provisions of Article 24 of these Measures by refusing to hand over the land it actually occupies, the municipal land administrative department shall apply to a people's court of competent jurisdiction for compulsory execution according to law and impose a fine of not less than RMB￥10 but not more than RMB￥30 per square meter of the land occupied by the land user entity.

　　Article 30.If a land administrative department and its law enforcement personnel commit any of the following acts, the competent authority shall order them to make corrections and impose a disciplinary action on officers in charge and directly responsible personnel according to law; if the case constitutes a crime, they shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law:

　　(1) Failing to conduct regular inspection on the land use status, with serious circumstances;

　　(2) Failing to serve relevant documents in accordance with the law when disposing of idle land, with serious circumstances;

　　(3) Taking back idle land or canceling approval documents for construction land, in violation of legal procedures;

　　(4) Any other acts of dereliction of duty, abuse of power, favoritism and malpractice.

　　Article 31.Those who obstruct any land administrative staff from legally performing their official duties, if the circumstances are serious, shall be dealt with by the competent public security organ in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Law of the People's Republic of China on Penalties for Administration of Public Security; if a crime is constituted, they shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to law.

　　Chapter IV Supplementary provisions

　　Article 32.These Measures shall come into force on March 1, 2010. The Measures of Guangzhou Municipality for the Disposal of Idle Lands that came into force on June 1, 2003 shall be abolished accordingly.