The rural property rights exchange is in a dilemma of survival.

As the state attaches great importance to the transfer of rural property rights, the establishment, operation and development of rural property rights exchanges are also very important. However, at present, some rural property rights exchanges have a dilemma that the volume of business is small or even unsustainable. How to improve the business volume of the exchange, how to strike a balance between the public welfare and survival of the exchange, and how to solve the problem of policy breakthrough and legal lag all determine the future of the rural property rights exchange to some extent.

Not long ago, the villagers Committee of Ailing Village, Jinkou Street, Jiangxia District, Wuhan City successfully rented out the land contractual management rights of about 137 mu of arable land and 80 mu of wasteland. The 16-year lease contract was promoted and signed with the help of the Wuhan Rural Comprehensive property right Exchange. This is also the latest transaction announcement on the website of Wuhan Rural Comprehensive property Rights Exchange.

Since the establishment of the first rural property rights exchange in Chengdu in 2008, more and more rural property rights transactions have been carried out openly in exchanges all over the country.

On January 22, 2015, the General Office of the State Council issued the first national guidance document for the rural property rights transfer trading market, the opinions on guiding the healthy Development of the Rural property Rights transfer Trading Market (hereinafter referred to as the "opinions"). Affirmed the role of rural property rights exchanges in rural property rights transactions.

The "opinion" points out that in recent years, with the continuous transfer of rural labor force and the deepening of rural reform, the demand for rural property rights transfer transactions such as farmers' contracted land management rights and forest rights has increased significantly, and various forms of rural property rights transfer trading markets and service platforms have been established in many places, providing effective services for rural property rights transfer transactions.

However, during the interview with the reporter at the weekend of the rule of law, the reporter learned that many property exchanges around the country also have various problems in their operation.

"We do have some difficulties in our current operation. There is no financial subsidy from the government, and free public welfare services are also provided for property rights transactions. The current maintenance mainly depends on start-up funds. We are also trying to win some policy support." Zhou Weihua, head of the Trading Department of Tianjin Rural property Rights Exchange, told reporters at the Rule of Law weekend in an interview.

As an important basis for the development of the rural property rights transfer market, it is very important for the rural property rights exchange to take the next step.

"guiding the healthy development of the rural property rights transfer market has a bearing on the overall situation of rural reform, development and stability, and is conducive to protecting the property rights and interests of farmers and rural collective economic organizations." The same is also stated in the "opinion".

On-site trading helps to prevent dark box operation.

On the morning of January 15, 2015, the trading hall of the Changping office of the Beijing Rural property Exchange gathered more than 20 villagers from Nanhaozhuang Village, Chengnan Street, Changping District, who paid close attention to the numbers jumping on the electronic screen. because this will determine the final price of the ten-year lease of a collectively owned house in the south of the village. The representatives of the three parties participating in the bidding entered a randomly selected separate room through online bidding, and after 69 bids, the auction was finally sold at a premium rate of 156%.

The transfer of rural property rights through open bidding in the exchange is increasingly becoming a trend.

Zhou Weihua said: "in terms of transaction form, the land property rights transactions we accept at present are not only transferred by agreement, but also carried out through bidding." The preliminary qualification examination is first carried out by the village committee, the agricultural economic management station at the district and town level, and then examined according to the regulations after the data are handed over to our department. After passing the qualification, it is listed, and the data of the transferee are collected and selected. Then carries on the public auction, now also used the electronic auction system, can avoid the malicious encirclement bid, drive up the price phenomenon. "

According to Zhou Weihua, all bidders need to pay a certain bid deposit before the auction begins. If the bid is successful, this part of the deposit will be directly converted into land contract money. All unsuccessful payments will be refunded.

Public data show that the land transfer market in the eastern part of China is relatively developed, while the proportion of land transfer in the central and western regions is relatively low. In 2013, the proportion of household contracted cultivated land transfer in Shanghai reached 65.81%, while that in Jiangsu also reached 56.96%.

"in recent years, there has indeed been an obvious development in China's land transfer market." Zheng Fengtian, a professor at the School of Agriculture and Rural Development at Renmin University of China, told reporters, "Ten years ago, the proportion was about 20% in the east and less than 10% in the west."

According to Wu Zhenjun, an associate researcher in the Rural Economic Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, as of 2014, the circulation area of contracted cultivated land in China was 380 million mu, of which most of the transfer transactions were carried out spontaneously. only a small number of them are carried out on the market (rural property rights exchange), and farmers do not even have a transfer contract.

Zheng Fengtian believes that although the land transfer within the exchange increases the transaction cost to a certain extent, it also promotes the transparency, supervision and standardization of the transaction.

"in the past, rural collective operating assets transactions were often directly signed contracts between grass-roots governments and land-use units, which farmers did not even know about, but land-use units could protect their rights and interests in accordance with the contract law, and farmers had no way. This situation can be greatly improved after public trading on the exchange. " Zheng Fengtian said.

"in the existing comprehensive property rights exchanges, there are many ways of bidding and bidding, which is affected by the increase of transaction elements in the rural property rights market, and it is also a form that the simple land transfer trading center did not have before. There are also some areas that stipulate that transactions that reach a certain target amount must be carried out by tender on the exchange. " Wu Zhenjun said.

This point is also put forward as a national guiding requirement in this "opinion": the circulation of rural collective assets above a certain amount must enter the market for public trading to prevent clandestine operations. The rural property rights transfer market should examine and verify the qualifications of all kinds of market subjects and register them for the record in accordance with the law.

There are only five transactions in three years.

Although the advantages of trading in rural property rights exchanges are obvious, the living conditions of many rural property rights exchanges in the country are not optimistic.

According to Zhou Weihua, the Tianjin Rural property Rights Exchange, which was prepared in 2009, is a wholly state-owned joint-stock enterprise jointly funded by the Tianjin Municipal Committee of Agriculture, the people's Government of Baodi District, and the Tianjin property Rights Trading Center, with a registered capital of 20 million yuan. And was officially established in May 2011.

"since its establishment, we have completed a total of 27 rural property rights transactions, 22 of which were carried out in January this year. Such a big change is also inseparable from the government's increased promotion efforts and policy support since May 2014." Zhou Weihua said that the Baodi district government has clearly defined the scope and specific procedures of rural property rights transactions, and encouraged bidding projects for major rural construction projects. Shares, assets and intellectual property rights held by enterprises of non-collective economic organizations are traded through exchanges.

"at present, the market share of the rural property rights exchange is indeed very small, and the process of on-site trading is relatively complex, which requires time cost and economic cost. There is no need for farmers to go to the exchange for small-scale transactions. Generally speaking, enterprises with a relatively large trading land area or those who are not familiar with the local situation and lack of information sources will choose to trade on the exchange. " Wu Zhenjun said.

In addition, the failure to confirm the rights of rural land also has a certain impact on the business volume of the exchange. Wu Zhenjun added, "in particular, varieties with unclear property rights cannot be traded on the exchange, while varieties with incomplete property rights are now traded. Farmers' interests will suffer losses, and once the property rights are complete and then enter the circulation market, the value will certainly be greatly improved."

"in the early days of its establishment, we charged a certain fee for the services we provided. The standard originally set by the Tianjin property right Center, the superior unit in charge, was 1%, but taking into account the actual situation and in order to promote land transfer, we have been charging service fees at a rate of 2/1000, which is already very low. And from this year on, we have switched to free service. " Zhou Weihua said.

The "opinion" also puts forward the basic principle of "giving priority to public welfare" for the construction of the rural property rights transfer transaction market, which requires that we must adhere to the purpose of serving agriculture, highlight the public welfare, and not take profit as the purpose, guide, standardize and support the development of the rural property rights transfer transaction market, and give full play to its important role in serving the rural reform and development.

Wu Zhenjun told the reporter that in order to issue the "opinion," various agriculture-related departments and policy research institutions conducted research on China's current rural property rights trading market, and each issued an investigation report as a reference for the formulation of the "opinion."

"during the research, we also found that some rural property exchanges are maintained by government funds, and the proportion of exchanges charging fees in transactions is very low, and a small number of those with good operations can operate on their own." Wu Zhenjun said, "the first private rural property rights exchange in Ruian City closed down after more than two years of operation, but the volume of business was too small and the income could not cover the expenses, so it was difficult to maintain."

According to previous media reports, in May 2011, Ruian Zhonghe Land transfer Information Consulting Co., Ltd., founded by Chen Qingfu, was officially approved and registered by the Bureau of Industry and Commerce, but it was blacklisted by the Bureau of Industry and Commerce because there was no transaction within a year. Chen Qingfu only made two deals until the company went bankrupt, but he still said it was necessary for agricultural land intermediaries to exist.

Wang Zhengyi, instructor of the Shanghai Agricultural elements Exchange, told the Rule of Law weekend reporter: "the national policy has established at the top-level design that the service of the rural property rights transfer trading platform should be public welfare, and it will certainly not be for profit." We are committed to providing permanent free to farmers and co-operatives, and we have no income. "

How should the government support

In an interview with reporters on the Rule of Law weekend, many interviewees mentioned the problem of how rural property exchanges survive while adhering to public welfare, and how to solve this problem, some experts believe that the support of the government is very important.

Data show that at present, China's comprehensive rural property rights exchanges have a variety of legal persons, including institutions, government-funded enterprises, wholly state-owned enterprises, wholly state-owned joint-stock enterprises, limited liability companies and joint stock limited companies. But most of the commonness is supported by the power of the government.

Wu Zhenjun believes that the development of the rural property rights trading market can be divided into three stages: the early stage of development, the period when there is no profit, the market failure, the need for the government to enter, to help establish the system. "the specific department to be assigned to and the nature of the legal person enterprise to be established need to be considered in the light of the local history and actual situation."

In Wu Zhenjun's view, the second stage is the growth stage, in which the government gradually withdraws from some areas and continues to support some exchanges that are not yet profitable.

"when it comes to maturity, the government will completely liberalize itself and leave it to the market to choose. The government is mainly responsible for supervision and issuing laws and regulations that can promote the transaction of rural property rights. The behavior boundaries of the market, the intermediary and the government must be clearly defined. " Wu Zhenjun said.

Wu Zhenjun pointed out that China's rural property rights trading market is in its infancy. On the one hand, it needs the financial support of the government to enlarge the market; on the other hand, it needs to improve the law so that the market can develop in a standardized manner. it is clear when the government should withdraw from the market and when it should carry out administrative intervention.

However, there are also different opinions in the academic circles on whether the rural property rights exchange should be supported by the government.

"Land transfer transactions do not have to be carried out on the floor, as long as there is a contract, it is legal, so the exchange transactions should be fully voluntary." Xue Kepeng, a professor at the School of Civil, Commercial and Economic Law at China University of political Science and Law, said, "the construction and development of the trading platform should be decided by the market and formed spontaneously when the market needs it. The trading platform is mainly to provide service functions such as price discovery."

Che Yubin, deputy director of the Rural Research Center and director of the Rural Economic Development Research Institute, also believes that the rural property rights trading center should be a market-oriented organization, and that it may be suspected of interfering in the market if organized by the government. "for example, the trading center as a government agency will naturally have performance requirements, then there will be indicators such as trading volume, and the government may achieve the work targets through various ways of guidance."

Xue Kepeng also pointed out that there will be problems for the government to set up its own rural property rights trading center and then supervise it itself.

According to Wu Zhenjun, at present, the supervision of rural property rights exchanges is mainly carried out by the government. "all places are not unified, and there is no perfect special supervision mechanism."

It is understood that the Chongqing Rural Land Exchange also accepts the guidance and supervision of the relevant trading business by the municipal departments of land and housing management, agriculture, forestry, water conservancy, and finance, and accepts the comprehensive supervision of audit, supervision and other departments.

In addition, according to the research results of the Rural Economic Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, since the establishment of many rural property rights exchanges, there have been few transactions such as collective assets, collective physical assets and agricultural production facilities, and agricultural intellectual property rights, and some only play the role of registration and filing, and do not play a significant complementary or substitute role to the land transfer service center and the forest right transfer service center.

"in the course of the research, we found that some rural property exchange sites are indeed temporary, and when there is a lot of work, they may also be seconded from other departments, and the equipment is also the reuse of the original equipment." Wu Zhenjun said, "our policy is to encourage floor trading, but considering that the scale of rural property rights transactions is still limited, local governments should proceed from reality and avoid following the wind and fashion."

"whether or not to set up a market, what kind of market to set up, and how much it will cover, we should proceed from the actual conditions of various localities, make overall planning and rational layout, and should not engage in coercive orders or arbitrary administrative commands." The "opinions" are put forward.