Kinmen County Self-government Ordinance for Governing Ownerless Lands

The Kinmen County Government establishes this Self-government Ordinance in order to govern the ownerless lands that have not been officially registered in this County in due course.

Any land of which no person has applied for registration during the period of application, or any land of which the applicant for registration has failed to present the required additional documents of evidence within the prescribed time limit, shall be regarded as ownerless land and publicly announced as such by the competent land registration office will compile a list and make a public announcement within three months after the expiration of the registration period and then governing the ownerless lands for at least one (1) year since the date of public announcement.
 

In case that a person having original ownership of an ownerless land is able to provide an official proof of property rights during the escrow period with a rational explanation for delayed registration together with evidence signed by the Township Chief, the said person will be allowable to register the aforesaid ownerless land through a post-registration procedure after verification, and the implementation of escrow will hence be terminated as soon as the land registration office has completed the official registration procedure with respect to aforesaid land.
 

In event that an ownerless land held in escrow by this County is being rented or used by a lessee, the relevant rules or regulations shall be subject to this Ordinance or otherwise, it shall be conducted in accordance with rules or regulations as specified in the “Self-government Ordinance for Governing the County-owned Assets”. The rental rate is as follows:

1. Ownerless farmlands: 2% of assessed and publicly announced land value.

2. Ownerless sites: 5% of assessed and publicly announced land value.The rental period may not be longer than the escrow period.

The rental income collected from lands held in escrow during the escrow period must be centralized under one designated account that shall not be used absolutely during the escrow period of ownerless lands, in event that an original landlord has officially completed the land registration during the escrow period, the one-tenth of the total rental income is deemed to be an escrow fee to be deposited into county treasury, and the balance will be refunded to original landlord without interest.

Unless otherwise provided in applicable laws and regulations, an ownerless land held in escrow is prohibited from changing its original purpose of usage or growing any long-term cultivation of crops, however, it shall not be applied to any ownerless land meeting the requirements of the public undertakings that may be compulsorily purchased by the State according to the Article 208 of The Land Act, or to a leasable ownerless land that a lessee has presented an affidavit saying "Lessee will recover the ownerless lands to its original conditions and return it to an original owner without any condition if he/she fails to get the land use rights, sign a new rental contract, or purchase the aforesaid ownerless lands with/from the original landlord while such landlord has successfully registered the aforesaid ownerless lands through a post-registration procedure during the escrow period.

In the execution of land lease agreement, two copies of original lease contracts shall be made, one of which will be kept by the competent authority and the lessee respectively, thereby, format of lease contract will be set forth by the competent authority separately.

In event that an ownerless land has been rented out, the competent authority of lands held in escrow must collect regularly from lessee pursuant to relevant regulations and transfer it into one designated account opened particularly for lands held in escrow.

Supposed an ownerless farmland has been returned to an original landlord who is capable of self-cultivation and would like to conduct self-cultivation after the successful completion of land registration procedure during a valid rental period, it shall be done within duration after primary harvest season and before the initial operation of next growing season.

If, on the expiration of the period of escrow, no objections have been raised thereto, such land shall be registered as land owned by the State in accordance with Article 57 of The Land Act, thereby, land registration office shall compile a list and also transferring it to the Kin-Ma Branch at the Northern Region Office of National Property Administration, Ministry Of Finance. In case the aforesaid conditions, the “cause” put forward on the List of Lands Owned by the State will contain “No applicant applied for land registration during a post-registration procedure, no objections have been raised on the expiration of the period of escrow”.

This Self-government Ordinance shall commence and enter into force on the date of promulgation.