Lawmakers across party lines yesterday pledged to pass a draft amendment during the current legislative session to curb property flipping.
They made the pledge during a news conference called by the Housing Movement.
The Executive Yuan has approved a draft amendment to the Equalization of Land Rights Act (平均地權條例) and sent it to the Legislative Yuan for review in April. The proposal seeks to limit transfers of presale and new housing contracts and imposes fines of up to NT$50 million (US$1.62 million) on unfair promotions of real-estate properties.
Photo: Tu Chien-jung, Taipei Times
It also proposes setting up a licensing process for a private legal person to purchase properties, establish a reporting mechanism for property flipping and require the termination of contracts for presale housing to be disclosed within a month.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Wu Yu-chin (吳玉琴) yesterday said gaining the support of housing justice groups shows that “we actually did something right.”
“As ruling party lawmakers, it is our responsibility to pass the amendment,” said DPP Legislator Chiang Yung-chang (江永昌).
The government should “do everything to stop, punish and prevent property flipping” rather than promising action, but failing to deliver, he said.
New Power Party (NPP) Legislator Chiu Hsien-chih (邱顯智) said the amendment has been delayed for too long and he would request that the draft be listed as a priority bill for discussion in the legislature during cross-caucus negotiations on Friday.
The NPP caucus would also seek to revise some of the proposed provisions to help build a healthy real-estate market, he said.
Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) said the party “fully supports the amendment and will definitely list it as a priority bill,” adding that market manipulation and speculation should be severely punished.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wu I-ding (吳怡玎) said that the DPP has a majority in the legislature, so the amendment is sure to pass “if [the DPP] is willing to schedule a review session.”
She suggested that the government use the resources allocated to agencies such as the central bank and the Fair Trade Commission to curb the reselling of presale reservation receipts instead of “passing the buck to other ministries.”
Land Administration Agent Association honorary chairman Lin Wang-gen (林旺根) said that reselling of presale reservation receipts keeps driving housing prices up, adding that the “actual price registration system 2.0” launched by the legislature last year failed to fix the problem.
After the Cabinet passed the draft amendment, the trading volume and prices of presale homes both fell at least 30 percent, he said.
Organization of Urban Re-s secretary-general Peng Yang-kae (彭揚凱) said they “believe that the amendment is correct and will be effective,” as the draft has deterred some profiteers from reselling presale reservation receipts.
An undersea cable to Penghu County has been severed, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said today, with a Chinese-funded ship suspected of being responsible. It comes just a month after a Chinese ship was suspected of severing an undersea cable north of Keelung Harbor. The National Communications and Cyber Security Center received a report at 3:03am today from Chunghwa Telecom that the No. 3 cable from Taiwan to Penghu was severed 14.7km off the coast of Tainan, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said. The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) upon receiving a report from Chunghwa Telecom began to monitor the Togolese-flagged Hong Tai (宏泰)
Actor Lee Wei (李威) was released on bail on Monday after being named as a suspect in the death of a woman whose body was found in the meeting place of a Buddhist group in Taipei’s Daan District (大安) last year, prosecutors said. Lee, 44, was released on NT$300,000 (US$9,148) bail, while his wife, surnamed Chien (簡), was released on NT$150,000 bail after both were summoned to give statements regarding the woman’s death. The home of Lee, who has retreated from the entertainment business in the past few years, was also searched by prosecutors and police earlier on Monday. Lee was questioned three
RISING TOURISM: A survey showed that tourist visits increased by 35 percent last year, while newly created attractions contributed almost half of the growth Changhua County’s Lukang Old Street (鹿港老街) and its surrounding historical area clinched first place among Taiwan’s most successful tourist attractions last year, while no location in eastern Taiwan achieved a spot in the top 20 list, the Tourism Administration said. The listing was created by the Tourism Administration’s Forward-looking Tourism Policy Research office. Last year, the Lukang Old Street and its surrounding area had 17.3 million visitors, more than the 16 million visitors for the Wenhua Road Night Market (文化路夜市) in Chiayi City and 14.5 million visitors at Tainan’s Anping (安平) historical area, it said. The Taipei 101 skyscraper and its environs —
WAR SIMULATION: The developers of the board game ‘2045’ consulted experts and analysts, and made maps based on real-life Chinese People’s Liberation Army exercises To stop invading Chinese forces seizing Taiwan, board gamer Ruth Zhong chooses the nuclear option: Dropping an atomic bomb on Taipei to secure the nation’s freedom and her victory. The Taiwanese board game 2045 is a zero-sum contest of military strategy and individual self-interest that puts players on the front lines of a simulated Chinese attack. Their battlefield game tactics would determine the theoretical future of Taiwan, which in the real world faces the constant threat of a Chinese invasion. “The most interesting part of this game is that you have to make continuous decisions based on the evolving situation,
RSS