Restrictions on property inquiries arouse controversy

Authorities in several regions of China have issued regulations to restrict inquiries into individuals' house registrations, a move that has aroused controversy after a slew of online exposes of corrupt government officials owning large amounts of property.

The government of Zhangzhou in southeast China's Fujian Province recently said that it would allow only homeowners, procuratorates, courts and housing security departments to file inquiries over the property of a specific person.

The regulation is aimed at better protecting people's privacy, according to an announcement on Saturday.

Yancheng municipal government in eastern Jiangsu Province has also released a similar regulation, ruling that no one except homeowners, authorities and lawyers would be granted the right to make such inquiries.

"The illegal release of personal housing documents in some areas has provoked public worries over information security," according to Yancheng's announcement on Jan. 30.

In Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong Province, people have had to hand in their ID information before acquiring housing files since the beginning of this year.

Netizens worry that it will be more difficult to expose corrupt officials' illegal real estate ownership under the new systems.

A number of officials were punished last year after revelations that they illegally owned a large amount of real estate beyond their financial means.

A former director of the housing administration bureau in Henan Province was arrested after he was reported to have 31 houses last month.

Similarly, a police officer in Guangdong Province was dismissed earlier this month for allegedly owning 192 houses with dual national identity cards.

"The new regulations will only protect such people. It will be harder for the general public to fight corruption," said a netizen under the screen name "Qiao Zhifeng" on Sina Weibo, a popular Chinese microblogging service.

"Those who purchase apartments legally are not afraid of their information being released," said Kang Jiancan, a lawyer with the Beijing-based Long'an Law Firm.

Other netizens who support the regulations said the security of personal information is also a legitimate concern.