Respect of property rights paramount

The property sector respects the new Land Law is the straight answer Paul Tse See Fan, president of the Macau Association of Building Contractors and Developers, gives with regard to all the recent controversy surrounding the city’s land resources.
“I give total respect and support to the Legislative Assembly and the SAR Government for the tremendous work they have put in on the law,” he said in a wide-ranging interview with our group of publications, covering several of the latest hot topics of the territory – from land and urban planning to housing prices and supply. “But we need to make sure that when exercising the law it doesn’t punish people unjustly if they have followed the spirit and instruction of the law, or indications from the government,” notes Tse.
He refers to the new Land Law – coming into force in March 2014 to replace a 1980 version – that has polarised the city, following the decision of the authorities to take back some land plots following the lapse of their 25-year concession period. While some support the government to follow the law and take back the parcels due to the incompletion of development on the site, some developers emphasise it is not always the fault of lessees for not completing the development, and the current land law does not look into such an issue.
Describing the land concession period as a football match of 90 minutes, Mr. Tse said a football match was sometimes paused due to substitution, injuries and other reasons but stoppage time was always added at the end to compensate for loss of time. “This is the simple, fair and accurate description of what really should happen [concerning some of those land plots taken back by the authorities],” he said.
Chief Executive-appointed legislator Gabriel Tong Io Cheng has recently submitted a bill on the “interpretation” of the new Land Law so that the authorities could extend the concession period for some parcels if it was not the fault of lessees for the lack of development of the site.
But Legislative Assembly President Ho Iat Seng deemed the bill an amendment to the Land Law rather than an interpretative bill, meaning an approval by the Chief Executive is needed.
Asked whether the authorities should conduct a public consultation on whether the law should be revised, Mr. Tse only responded he would leave the matter to the government and legal professionals. But he noted: “I was told by several legislators it was made very clear during the committee stage [of the discussion of the law] in 2013: if there was any problem coming up after the implementation [of the law] the administration would take a second look at it about whether they can put in certain administrative measures to make sure that everyone’s property rights are protected.”
Talking about the outlook of the local housing market, Mr. Tse said the market for end-users has long found a bottom over the stable salary level of residents and their housing demand. But there might still be some instability for the speculative market, like the pre-sales of unfinished homes, given the global economic uncertainties, he added.
With home prices plunging more than a third from their peak in 2014, some property agents and developers have urged the authorities to ease some property curbs, namely the special stamp duty – a levy of up to 20 per cent on the sale of a property if it is sold within two years of being purchased – and mortgage lending rules. While Mr. Tse is against any “punitive taxes” on property, he remarked: “The government by nature is cautious . . . particularly with [the Legislative Assembly] elections coming up [next year] so the taxes are going to stay for a while longer.” P.A.A./T.L.
Full interview in September’s Macau Business and Business Intelligence editions. Check the interview out on MB.tv at www.macaubusiness.com