The owner of a house tries in vain to stop his illegally constructed house from being torn down in Xinzhuang village, Chaoyang district, Beijing.

 Five scholars from Peking University have recommended to the country's top legislature that an existing law defining the government's ability to seize urban housing should be abolished or revised to protect property owners.

 

In a letter to the National People's Congress (NPC) Standing Committee on Monday, scholars said the current Housing Demolition and Relocation Management Regulation is a breach of the country's constitution and property law.

The letter has fired up public attention across the nation, especially after the death of a resident who set herself on fire to prevent local authorities in Chengdu, in southwest China's Sichuan province, from seizing and demolishing her home.

In the letter, law professors Shen Kui, Jiang Ming'an, Wang Xixin, Qian Mingxing, and Chen Duanhong suggested that the NPC Standing Committee urge the State Council Legislative Affairs Office, the organ that issued the existing regulation, to revise or abolish the law.

According to the nation's constitution and property law, a citizen's private property is inviolable - governments can only confiscate a citizen's housing for public welfare construction. Compensation must be paid before relocation, Jiang said.

But in the housing management regulation, the rights of property owners are not specified.

The regulation also stipulates that residents have to move out once the government issues a relocation permit, with a maximum period of a year and a half for residents to relocate and negotiate compensation.