IV Implementation of Urban Renewal Project
Article 22
The owners of the lands and legal buildings of an area that has been designated for renewal implementation may designate the renewal units by themselves as per renewal units defined by the authority, or based on the criteria for designating a renewal unit, conduct a public hearing. They may then present a project summary together with the public hearing records to the municipal, county (city) authority to apply for approval according to Article 29.After obtaining approval, the land and legal building owners may organize an urban renewal association to carry out the urban renewal project in the area on their own or delegate a corporation to execute the operations. The same procedure shall apply when changes are made.
To apply as described in the preceding paragraph shall require the approval of more than half of all the private land and private legal building owners in the renewal unit and the total land area and total floor area of the legal buildings such owners represent shall also be more than half of the entire area of the renewal unit. Presentation of the project summary may be exempted if the ratio of approval achieves the threshold specified in Article 37 and the land and legal building owners may proceed with the planned urban renewal project in accordance with Articles 27 and 32.
Before conducting the review described in Paragraph 1, private citizens or groups may present their opinions in writing, along with their names or titles and addresses, to the competent authority of the municipality or county (city) for reference when conducting the review.
The competent authority of the municipality or county (city) shall announce the project summary approved as described in Paragraph 1 for 30 days and also notify all the land and legal building owners in the renewal unit, holders of other rights, agencies for registration of restriction requests and holders of the right to registration of caution.
Article 23
In areas where urban renewal demarcation or changes are not yet made but urban renewal is deemed necessary and one of the situations described in Subparagraphs 1 to 3 or Subparagraph 6 of Article 6 exists, the land and legal building owners there may demarcate the renewal units according to the renewal units demarcation standards established by the competent authority and apply for approval to implement urban renewal project following the preceding Article.
The renewal unit demarcation standards established by the competent authority as stated in the preceding paragraph shall clearly state concrete approaches to define the building and environment condition therein according to the principles specified in Subparagraphs 1 to 3 or Subparagraph 6 of Article 6.
Renewal unit demarcation standards established or revised after enforcement of the amendment to this Act on Dec. 28, 2018, shall take effect after they are approved by the urban planning committee of the government in concern. Those established before enforcement of the amendment shall be revised within three years and take effect after they are approved by the urban planning committee of the government in concern. The competent authority shall review and modify renewal unit demarcation standards regularly.
Article 24
The computation of the proportion between the number of persons and building owners applying to implement the urban renewal project does not include the following items:
1. Historical relics and villages that should be preserved in accordance with the law.
2. Ancestral shrines, temples, and churches that have been approved and registered by the County (City) authority.
3. Buildings being managed by the government or listed for management by land authorities as per the regulations in Article 73-1 of the Land Act.
4. Persons undergoing court procedures for sequestration, provisional seizure, and provisional punishment or registering for bankruptcy.
5. Land or buildings belonging to worship groups that have not properly registered and issued lists of successors.
6. Land or buildings belonging to deity worship associations that have not properly registered and established lists of members or followers, system charts, and land lists.
Article 25
A trust method can be set up to implement urban renewal projects. The proportion of the number of owners to be calculated according to Paragraph 2 of Article 22 and Paragraph 1 of Article 37 shall be calculated according to the number of trustors.
Article 26
The urban renewal project corporation should be a corporation established in accordance with the Company Act. However, if an urban renewal project uses the renovation or maintenance method to process, it will not be restricted by this regulation.
Article 27
Owners of the lands and legal buildings exceeding seven persons may implement the urban renewal project by themselves following the regulations in Articles 22 and 23. They should organize an urban renewal association and institute byelaws indicating the following items and apply with the municipal, county (city) authority for approval:
1. Title of the urban renewal association and office location.
2. Implementing area.
3. Members' qualifications, number of legal officers, terms, job responsibility, and methods of selection.
4. Relevant operational affairs.
5. Relevant sharing of expenses, public announcements, and methods of notifying.
6. Other necessary items.
The urban renewal association in the preceding paragraph should be a legal entity and the regulations regarding establishment should be enacted by the central authority.
Article 28
An urban renewal association may act according to related regulations in the Civil Code to delegate an institution with professional urban renewal knowledge and experience to consolidate the operations of an urban renewal project.
Article 29
To review project summary, urban renewal project plans and right transformation plans and to handle disputes between implementers and related rights holders, competent authorities at different levels shall recruit scholars, specialists, fair, and impartial individuals and representatives from related agencies (institutions) to form committees and handle such issues through open approaches. The number of specialists, scholars, and representatives from private groups may not be less than half of the total members and the number of members of each gender may not be less than one-third.
If necessary, the competent authority at each level may commission professional groups or institutions to provide technical advice when reviewing operational outlines or handling disputes as described in the preceding paragraph.
The central competent authority shall establish regulations to govern the responsibilities and composition of the review committee stated in the first paragraph, recusal for conflicts of interests, and related matters.
Article 30
The competent authority at each level shall designate personnel to be responsible for urban renewal operations and may also set up a designated legal entity or institution to help promote or implement urban renewal projects with the delegation or approval of the competent authority.
Article 31
The competent authority at each level may establish an urban renewal project fund to promote or implement an urban renewal project.
Article 32
The implementer shall establish the urban renewal project plan and present it to the competent authority of the municipality or county (city) in concern for approval and announcement before implementation. Plans regarding urban renewal projects in renewal areas demarcated or changed by the central competent authority according to Paragraph 2 of Article 7 or Article 8 may be presented to the central competent authority for approval and announcement before implementation. The central competent authority shall publicly announce such plans for 30 days and also notify the land and legal building owners in such renewal units, holders of other rights, agencies for registration of restriction requests, and holders of the right to registration of caution. The same procedure shall apply when changes are made.
During the period when an urban renewal project plan is being established or changed, public hearings shall be held to solicit public opinions.
After an urban renewal project plan is established or changed and before the plan is presented to be reviewed by competent authorities of different levels, the plan shall be publicly exhibited in the municipality or county (city) government or township (town, city) office for 30 days while public hearings shall also be held. If the implementer has acquired the consent of all the private land and legal building owners inside the renewal unit, the public exhibition period may be reduced to 15 days.
The dates and locations of the exhibition and public hearings specified in the two preceding paragraphs shall be posted in newspapers or electronic newspapers and publicly announced on the website of the competent authority of the municipality or county (city). At the same time, the owners of the lands and legal buildings in the renewal unit, holders of other rights, agencies for registration of restriction requests, and holders of the right to registration of caution shall also be notified. Within the public exhibition period, private citizens or groups may provide their names or titles and addresses and express their opinions to the competent authorities of different levels in writing. Such authorities shall review these opinions and take them into consideration. Once revisions are made after such competent authorities review the opinions, further public exhibition shall not be necessary.
With urban renewal areas demarcated or changed according to Article 7 or renewal units to be renovated or maintained, if the implementer has acquired the consent of all the private land and legal building owners in the renewal unit, the restrictions specified in the three preceding paragraphs shall not apply and the public exhibition and public hearings need not be held during the period when the urban renewal project plan is being established or changed.
After the urban renewal project plan is established or changed, an application for change of project summary shall not be necessary if there are differences from the content of the original project summary.
Article 33
Except in one of the following situations, the competent authority at any level shall hold public hearings before approving and announcing an urban renewal project plan is to be implemented. It shall also refer to the public hearing records when deciding on the approval and explain the reasons why the opinions indicated in the records are adopted or not adopted:
1. No disputes exist before the plan is approved.
2. The plan is to be implemented by way of reconstruction or maintenance and all the land and legal building owners in the renewal unit have given their consent as described in Subparagraph 2 or 3, Paragraph 1 of Article 4.
3. The situation complies with Subparagraph 2 or 3 of Article 34.
4. The plan is to be implemented through joint construction agreement or other approaches and all the land and legal building owners in the renewal unit have given their consent as described in the second section of the proviso in Paragraph 1 of Article 43.
Parties finding the administrative disposition decided after public hearings as mentioned in the preceding paragraph may take the administrative remedy procedure without filing petitions or undergoing the preliminary procedure.
Article 34
The procedure of altering the urban renewal project plan can be simplified and conducted according to the following regulations:
1. When changes are to be made under one of the following circumstances, the public hearings and public exhibitions specified in Article 32 need not be held:
(1) The plan is to be implemented by way of reconstruction or maintenance and all the land and legal building private owners have given their consent as described in Subparagraph 2 or 3, Paragraph 1 of Article 4.
(2) The plan is to be implemented through rights transfer as described in Paragraph 1 of Article 43 while the condition specified in Article 60 does not exist and all the private land and legal building owners in the renewal unit have given their consent.
(3) The plan is to be implemented through joint construction agreement or other approaches and all the land and legal building owners in the renewal unit have given their consent as described in the second section of the proviso in Paragraph 1 of Article 43.
2. When changes are to be made under one of the following circumstances, the public hearings and public exhibitions specified in Article 32 need not be held:
(1) The implementer specified in Subparagraph 2, Paragraph 1 of Article 36 is changed and the consent of the land and legal building owners has been obtained according to Article 37 while both the original and the new implementers have also acquired notarization.
(2) The changes involved the items specified in Subparagraphs 12 to 15, 18, 20, and 21, Paragraph 1 of Article 36, and all the land and legal building owners in the renewal unit have given their consent. However, any change made to the item specified in Subparagraph 13 shall not jeopardize the rights and interests of households to be resettled.
3. If the changes are made to the items specified in Subparagraphs 7 to 10, Paragraph 1 of Article 36 and the competent authority has confirmed the original urban renewal project plan approved will not be affected, or the changes are made to the information to be indicated as specified in Paragraph 2 of Article 36, the public hearings and public exhibitions specified in Article 32 need not be held and acquisition of consent as specified in Article 37 shall also be unnecessary.
Article 35
Based on Article 32, if the drafting or the revising of an urban renewal plan involves the revision of the master urban plans, it should revise only the part involving the master plan in accordance with the regulations stipulated in the above Article by not defying its original objectives. If it involves only drafting and revising certain details of the plans, the urban renewal project plan can be announced first for implementation according to the procedures set out in Article 32. With regard to the deployment of renewal works, the relevant urban planning will later be coordinated in line with drafting or revising it.
Article 36
The urban renewal project plan should consider the existing situation and specify the following items:
1. Planning area for renewal.
2. The implementers.
3. Analysis of the current status.
4. Planning objectives.
5. Relationship with urban planning.
6. Management methods and the block division.
7. Construction and improvement plans of the public facilities within the area, including the layout and design drawings.
8. Renovating or maintaining the reconstruction, repair, and maintenance of the buildings within the areas, or the standards of design specifications for improving the facilities.
9. Land uses plan of the reconstruction block, including the building layout and design specifications.
10. Urban design or landscape plans.
11. Cultural assets to be preserved or plan for preservation or maintenance of buildings worthy of preservation
12. Methods of implementation and the relevant sharing expense.
13. Removing and settlement plans.
14. Financial plans.
15. Implementation schedule.
16. Evaluation of benefits
17. Incentives to apply for and amounts
18. Allocation of rights to be transferred, selection and distribution principles, and allocation ratio if the percentage of original owners to be allocated to is certain
19. Handling of public property and principle for allocation and use after renewal
20. Risk control and management measures to be taken
21. Maintenance, management, and warranty
22. Matters needing the cooperation of related units
23. Other information to be indicated
If the implementer is an urban renewal project corporation, its total capital or paid-in capital, the person in charge, project items, and performance at the time the urban renewal project plan is presented for approval shall be indicated under Subparagraph 2 of the preceding paragraph.
If reconstruction is the approach adopted for an urban renewal project plan, the risk control and management specified in Subparagraph 20 of Paragraph 1 shall be conducted through one of the following approaches:
1. Real estate development trust
2. Capital trust
3. Continuous construction mechanism
4. Joint and several guarantees from projects of the same trade.
5. Joint and several guarantee agreements from related business associations.
6. Other approaches approved by the competent authority.
Article 37
An implementer presenting an established or changed urban renewal project plan for approval shall acquire the consent of a certain percentage of the private land and private legal building owners that together account for a certain percentage of the total land area. The percentage calculation shall be conducted according to the regulations below. However, if the private land and private legal building owners giving their consent account for over 90% of the total land area, the number of owners need not be calculated.
1. Where an urban renewal project corporation is delegated through open selection according to Article 12, the consent of more than half of both the private land and private legal building owners in the renewal unit shall be acquired, and the total land area and the total floor area such private land and private legal building owners shall account for more than half of the entire land area and floor area. If the public land exceeds half of the land of the renewal unit, acquisition of the consent of the private land and private legal building owners shall not be required. The implementer shall guarantee the value of the rights of private land and private legal building owners after the rights transfer is not lower than the standard stipulated in related urban renewal regulations.
2. According to Article 22:
(1) The renewal area demarcated or changed to undergo urban renewal according to Article 7 shall require the consent of more than half of the private land and private legal building owners in the renewal unit and the total land area and floor area of the legal buildings of such owners shall also account for more than half of the entire land area and floor area.
(2) Other renewal areas to undergo renewal shall require the consent of more than three-quarters of the private land and private legal building owners in the renewal unit and the land area and floor area of the legal buildings of such owners shall also be more than three quarters of the entire land area and floor area.
3. According to Article 23: The consent of more than four-fifths of the private land and private legal building owners in the renewal unit shall be required and the land area and floor area of the legal buildings of such owners shall also account for more than four-fifths of the entire land area and floor area.
The computation of the proportion between the number of persons and the ownership of the lands and buildings mentioned in the preceding paragraph can be done to the regulations in Article 24.
When an urban renewal project is conducted in two or more approaches, the percentages of number of people and land area and floor area shall be calculated separately. The same principle shall apply when the ratio of consent described in Paragraph 2 of Article 22 is calculated.
Competent authorities should verify the proportion of agreement by the end of the exhibition, except the affairs ruled in Article 88, Article 89, and Article 92 in civil law or both of the two ends agree the revoke. If the value of allocated rights or the percentage allocated is lower than the rate when the letters of consent are issued, the owners may revoke their consent before the public exhibition comes to a conclusion.
Article 38
When an urban renewal area is demarcated or changed according to Article 7 or Subparagraphs 2 and 3, Paragraph 1 of Article 4, and some of the buildings on jointly owned land or some of the buildings on the same building base undergo reconstruction, renovation, or maintenance, the ratio of consent may be calculated according to the number of owners of the buildings to undergo reconstruction, renovation or maintenance, the ownerships and the part of building base owned without changing the unit ownerships of the unit owners of other buildings and the part of the building base they own.
Article 39
Unless ownership is acquired before registration through inheritance, compulsory execution, expropriation, or court decisions and related proof documents can be presented with the application or presentation for approval and the ratio of consent calculated according to Paragraph 2 of Article 22 or Paragraph 1 of Article 37 may be validated according to the information recorded in such documents, the information recorded in the land register, building register and legal building certificates, or proof documents issued by the competent authority of the municipality or county (city) shall be adopted.
If the properties are indicated in the registers and the proof documents described in the preceding paragraph as jointly owned, or inheritance is not yet registered and the properties are jointly owned by the inheritors before they are divided, the number of joint owners giving their consent shall be considered the number of people giving their consent and the ratio of such joint owners giving their consent to the total number of people shall be multiplied by the size of the jointly owned area, and the product shall be considered the consent representing such an area.
Article 40
When finding abnormal increases of holders of land and legal building ownerships in a renewal unit during reviewing, the competent authority shall investigate, examine related evidence, and make corresponding decisions or handle disputes in accordance with Article 29.
Article 41
In order to draft the urban renewal project plan, the implementers can appoint persons to enter into public lands or buildings within the renewal area for investigation or survey. The persons should notify the owner(s), manager(s), or the user(s) before entering the land or buildings.
It should be approved by municipal, county (city) authority while conducting the investigation or survey as mentioned in the preceding paragraph. But, it is not restricted by this regulation if municipal, county (city) authority is conducting it.
When conducting the investigation or survey as stated in the first paragraph, and if there is a need to remove obstacles on that land, the owner, manager, or the user should be informed, otherwise if the owner, manager, or the user suffers losses, they should be compensated; the compensation amount is negotiated by both parties, but if negotiations fail, it shall be determined by the municipal, county (city) authority.
Article 42
After the renewal area is designated, the municipal, county (city) authority can consider the existing needs in order to make a public announcement that reconstruction, extensions, new constructions, taking gravel/soil, or changing the terrain within the renewal area is prohibited. However, implementation that does not affect urban renewal is not restricted by this regulation.
The duration of the prohibition mentioned in the preceding paragraph cannot exceed two years.
Anyone violating the regulation stated in the first paragraph will be ordered to demolish, reconstruct, stop using, or restore to its original state by the municipal, county (city) authority.
Article 43
The right transformation method can be used to reconstruct the area within the urban renewal project plan area; however, the authorities or relevant authorities can conduct land expropriation, zone expropriation, or urban land consolidation methods to implement it. Those governed by the regulations in other laws or as agreed by all the owners of the lands and legal buildings can use the method of joint construction agreement or other methods to implement it.
When using zone expropriation to implement an urban renewal project, the authority shall prescribe the percentage between the total area of the offset price land and the total area of the zone expropriation land after considering the actual situation.
Article 44
When using the method of joint construction agreement to implement an urban renewal project, if the implementation is not agreed upon by all the owners of the lands and legal buildings but the agreement is over 80% of private land area and private floor area of legal buildings, joint construction agreement can be carried out partially. In that part in which owners agreed to participate in a joint construction agreement can be implemented by the way. In another part, for those land and legal buildings which disagreed to participate in the joint construction agreement, the right transformation can be applied.
The implementer shall guarantee the value of the rights of those participating in rights transfer is not lower than the standards specified in related urban renewal regulations after rights transfer.
Article 45
After an urban renewal project plan is approved by the competent authority to be implemented, the implementer shall work on the buildings requiring renovation or maintenance in the area according to established schedules and the owners or managers shall pay the implementer the expenses incurred.
If the owners or managers fail to pay the expenses stated in the preceding paragraph after they are urged to make the payments, the implementer may request the competent authority to issue an administrative disposition in writing to order the owners or managers to make the payments within a given period. If any owner or manager fails to comply, the competent authority may transfer the case for compulsory execution by the local branch of the Administrative Enforcement Agency, Ministry of Justice. Afterward, the competent authority shall pay the amounts owed to the implementer with the funds obtained from the execution.
Applications for building permits required for renovation or maintenance of buildings may be filed in the name of the implementer and presentation of land ownership documents shall not be required.
Article 46
Unless there are other plans for reasonable use and inclusion in urban renewal projects is deemed unlikely, public land and buildings shall be included in urban renewal projects without being subject to Article 25 of the Land Act, Articles 7, 28, 53, and 66 of the National Property Act, Articles 25, 26 and 86 of the Budget Act, and the public property regulations of local governments.
The title of public lands and buildings changed to a nonpublic owned property should be coordinated with the urban renewal plan, and the non-public owned property managing authority at each level of the government can directly change the title to a non-public owned property and be processed together. This is not applicable to Article 33 to Article 35 of the Nation-owned Property Act and the relevant regulations stipulated in all government property management regulations.
The public-owned property mentioned in the above two paragraphs must be processed according to the following methods:
1. The local government agency responsible for the administration of non-public properties may conduct the urban renewal project on its own, or delegate the project to another agency (institution), an urban renewal project corporation, or a trust institution.
2. The municipal, county (city) authority, or other authorities use the methods of the compulsory, block to implement urban renewal projects, it should be appropriated for use, or facilities shall be provided to expedite project implementation.
3. When rights transfer is adopted in an urban renewal project, in addition to choosing rights of certain value to participate in the allocation of land, buildings, and land royalties or accepting compensation, concerned parties may also sell the allocated land and buildings to the implementer.
4. When joint construction agreement is adopted in an urban renewal project, concerned parties may choose to participate in allocation through rights transfer, put up the properties for sale, or sell the properties to the implementer. When such properties are put up for sale, besides certain parties statutorily given priority to make purchases, the implementer may also have the priority to make purchases on the same conditions.
5. Participation in or implementation of the project by creating rights of superficies.
6. Methods regulated by other laws.
If an urban renewal project plan established for an area demarcated or changed to undergo renewal and presented for approval after enforcement of the amended provisions of this Act on Dec. 28, 2018, and the area or percentage of public land therein achieves over a certain scale unless there are special reasons, such a plan shall be implemented in accordance with one of the approaches specified in Paragraph 1 of Article 12. The aforesaid certain scale and special reasons shall be defined by the competent authority at each level.
Unless it is otherwise stipulated in Subparagraph 1, Paragraph 3, when urban renewal project corporations are delegated to implement urban renewal projects on public properties, Articles 13 to 20 shall apply mutatis mutandis to announcement of solicitation of applications from urban renewal project corporations, review of such applications, objection and appeal filing procedures, and deliberation and decision.
If illegal buildings on public land are included in an urban renewal project plan by agreement and the building use compensation and other expenses are already paid to the management agency, the management agency may achieve a settlement of action with the dwellers in illegal buildings.
Article 47
When the competent authorities at different levels, other agencies (institutions), or township (town, city) offices acquire land, buildings, or rights through urban renewal projects they implement or by serving as the organizing agency to select urban renewal project corporations through open approaches to implement urban renewal project, the disposal of or profit from such land, buildings or rights shall not be subject to Article 25 of the Land Act, Articles 28 and 53 of the National Property Act and the property management regulations of governments at different levels.
When competent authorities at different levels or township (town, city) offices acquire land, buildings, or rights by participating in urban renewal projects or promoting urban renewal and processing urban plan changes, the disposal of or profit from such land, buildings, or rights shall not be subject to Article 25 of the Land Act or the property management regulations of local governments.