SHANGHAI - A senior housing official in Shanghai said on Sunday that the government will not reclaim residential lands after their leases expire.

"When residential lands' leases expire, the land-use rights will certainly be automatically extended in accordance with the country's Property Law," Shanghai municipal housing security and management bureau head Liu Haisheng told China Daily on the sideline of the ongoing plenary session of the municipal people's congress.

Liu's remarks were in response to a China Business News report on Saturday. The report said the application notice presented during Shanghai's first land auction earlier this month announced land transferors will reclaim land after the leases expire by compensating users for the residual value.

The application notice for a 35,600-square-meter plot in northern Shanghai's Luodian town even said the land will be "retrieved by the transferor for free" when the land-use rights expire, according to the report.

All of the country's urban land is State-owned. Policies allow the land to be leased for residential purposes for up to 70 years. Parcels used for business, tourism and entertainment can be leased for up to 40 years, and other categories can be leased for 50 years.

But most leases run out before the maximum time allowed by law, because the leasing period officially begins from the day the developer obtains the land.

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Saturday's report had triggered widespread public outcry. It had been republished thousands of times by Sunday afternoon on sina.com.cn's micro blog, the country's largest by number of users.

Many argue the policies, if they are as reported, violate the 2007 Property Law.

The law stipulates residential land's leasing period will be automatically extended upon the termination date.

Shanghai Co-career Law Firm lawyer Yang Lei, who is experienced in real estate disputes, also said it is unlikely the land transferor can reclaim the land.

"The impact on people's livelihoods would be huge," he said.

"That's because the Property Law states that people living in buildings on transferred land will be deprived of their rights to live in those buildings if the land is reclaimed."

Qian Yanfeng contributed to this story.