How to Check Property Land Info Before Buying a House

Several concepts to understand: place names, promotional names, project names, and land names.
A place name is the official name assigned by the local planning bureau’s toponymy office.
A promotional name is the marketing name given by the developer to make selling properties easier.
A project name is the one the developer submits to the government, primarily used when applying for permits such as the Construction Project Planning Permit.
A land name is the identifier assigned by the government during demolition and land acquisition, based on urban planning.
So the same residential community might be called “Lawyer Village Plot C” during demolition, “Lawyer Garden” during development, and “Lawyer Luxury Court” when marketed, while appearing under yet another name on maps. Your property’s community may go by different names, so gathering all of them will help you track down relevant information. For example, if you find the land name (usually searchable by address), you can readily access the land auction records, which often include key planning metrics like the floor area ratio.
If you can’t find that information, your next step should be to locate the land grant contract.
As buyers, our first priority should be the land use designation. If a developer unilaterally changes the land use and violates regulations, the risks to purchasers are substantial. Beyond potential design flaws in the building itself, the fundamental risk is being unable to obtain a property ownership certificate later on. Clarifying the land use of the granted parcel can help you avoid buying units zoned for residential-to-commercial conversion, commercial-to-residential conversion, or villas built on industrial land—don’t end up purchasing what is supposedly a residence when it’s actually on collective land or educational用地.
Other technical metrics also warrant verification. For instance, if the approved construction area is 100,000 square meters but the salesperson tells you it’s 200,000 square meters, you should consider whether a planning amendment has taken place.
The land grant contract will also include the transaction price—that is, the price the developer paid for the land, commonly referred to as the “floor price.” The higher the floor price, the higher the unit price we’ll pay for our homes. In some cases, projects have been left unfinished precisely because the land premium was so high that the developer’s cash flow became unsustainable.