It is difficult for the tenant to check out the refund.
"If it wasn't for the landlord to come to the door, we didn't know what happened to Qingke." Linxi was a tenant at Qingke Apartment. On April 8, she learned from the landlord about the situation of Qingke Apartment: " He said that he did not receive rent and utilities for a few months, so let us move." On May 4, the landlord gave an ultimatum and took someone to change the lock.
A reporter from China Youth Daily and China Youth Daily noticed that starting from February this year, tenants of Qingke apartments in Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing and other places faced water and power outages and even drove off due to the “Qingke” who owed rent to the landlord. Out of the dilemma of the apartment. Searching the QQ group, you can find more than 10 Qingke apartment rights groups, with the largest number reaching 966 people, the Shanghai group is 500 people, and other regions are about 100 to 800 people.
Checkout refund is difficult
Qingke Apartment is a subsidiary of Shanghai Qingke Public Rental Housing Rental Management Co., Ltd. The company was established in Shanghai in 2012 and was listed in the United States in November 2019.
"The customer service phone can't be reached, and the house manager who is responsible for my renting can't be contacted." Tenant Liu Wei told reporters that she hadn't received the notice of evacuation, but the residence had been disconnected from the network. Tenant Xiong Ke's apartment was disconnected from the Internet on April 17. She called the after-sales phone and was told that the landlord wanted to cancel the contract with the company. "He asked us to find a house as soon as possible. Once the landlord cancels the contract, we only have a few days to find a house to move." . Xiong Ke contacted his housekeeper, but the other party said, "The check-out process is in progress and the leader has not approved it yet."
Qingke set up a temporary reception point at 500 Jiajian Road, Jiading District, Shanghai. In early May, Lin Xi tried to check out and refund. "After a two-hour queue, the staff asked me to write a request on the paper, and finally gave me a receipt." She said that the staff said that they can arrange to check out within a week, but the past month has passed, there is no any progress.
Is there a platform that acts as an "intermediary" between the tenant and the landlord, is there any responsibility to compensate the tenant for the loss?
Xiong Bingwan, associate professor of Renmin University of China Law School, told reporters that the relationship between the landlord and the platform and the relationship between the platform and the tenant are independent of each other due to the relativity of the contract. He believes that during the lease period, the tenant has the right to occupy and use the house, "the landlord's act of taking back the house violates the tenant's right." He said that in the case where the platform breached the contract and the rent could not be paid to the landlord in a timely manner, the landlord should claim the platform for actual performance, breach of contract compensation or termination of the contract. Even in the case of cancellation of the contract, the landlord can request the platform to return the house without having the right to take back the house directly.
In addition, the lease contract also specifies services for prepayment by tenants and collection and payment of water grid fees by the platform. "At present, when the tenant has no arrears, the house's water and power failure is due to the platform's failure to pay the water grid fee, and the platform constitutes a breach of contract." Xiong Bingwan said, the tenant can also request the platform for actual performance. It can also request damages for damages caused to the tenant due to the breach of contract on the platform.
The reporter noticed that in addition to rent, many tenants whose contracts expired still couldn't get back the deposit they had paid. Zhu Chang, an old tenant of Qingke Apartment, changed to the new rental office of Qingke Apartment at the end of last year, and has not yet received the deposit of the previous contract.
Refusal to repay "rent loan" or affect credit reporting
It is understood that Qingke Apartment recommends tenants to use the "rent loan" model to prepay rent in advance. Tenants lend to Huarui Bank, Alipay Online Banking and other financial institutions for one to two years, and pay to Qingke Apartment once, and then repay the loan on a monthly basis. .
"I didn't say it was a'rent loan' at the time. The housing management said it was an instalment form. If you use it, you will get a point reward that deducts the water fee." Lin Xi said. Liu Wei also confirmed this statement: "They don't tell you that it is a loan, they only say instalments, just like flowers." Zhu Chang remembers that the monthly points can be exchanged for 110 yuan water and network fees.
It is understood that most tenants currently using “rent loans” cannot cancel loan contracts. Xiong Ke once contacted the staff of Qingke Apartment, the latter said that the company can issue a check-out refund certificate, and individuals can go to the bank to handle the loan cancellation. But then it was said that the company will repay the loan, and the tenant can untie Alipay's bank card and take out all the balance of the account to prevent automatic deduction.
"If the online merchant bank is overdue, it will affect the credit of Ant Financial. I don't know if it will report the credit." Xiong Ke said. Tenant, a tenant in the Wuhan area, is also very worried about credit reporting. "Shanghai Huarui Bank has already given my 18-month rent to Qingke, and not returning the bank will affect my credit reporting." For her just one year after graduation, the loan of 14,000 yuan is not a small amount.
Lin Xi rented a house to the landlord again, saving the trouble of finding a house and moving house. But now she still deducts a sum of money for the "rent loan" every month, which is equal to paying "two rents." She still has a "rent loan" totaling 24,660 yuan for 18 months.
In the "rent loan" mode, the platform is only an intermediate matchmaker, and the tenant directly handles the loan business with the bank to form a loan contract relationship. Xiong Bingwan said that in this process, it is necessary to pay attention to whether the provisions of the contract regarding suspension and termination of the contract include this situation. Second, we must observe whether it constitutes a statutory dismissal.
Xiong Bingwan said that tenants currently have the following rights protection methods. First, if the tenant wants to continue using the house, he can sue the court. Claim that the landlord violated his right to use the possession, and request to restore the possession; Second, the tenant can claim damages from the landlord for the infringement of damage due to the distrust of the platform; Third, according to the currently effective "Judicial Interpretation of Urban Housing Rental Contracts" Article 17, the tenant may request the rent and the liquidated damages paid on behalf of the platform to defend against the lessor’s right to terminate the contract, and the part paid on behalf of the lessor may be offset against the rent or recovered from the platform.
The long-term rental apartment market is very risky, mostly for young people "victimized"
On May 29th, Qingke Apartment issued a statement on its public account saying that the company is currently experiencing financial difficulties, but it is still in normal operation. "It will definitely bear the responsibility of paying the payables and will not escape."
In the China Real Estate News·China Real Estate Think Tank held a long-term rental apartment theme online forum in March, a number of central long-term apartment principals said that during the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the apartment suspended reception of new customers and delayed leasing, which has a greater impact on the occupancy rate. In addition, the resumption of work was delayed, the population movement was greatly reduced, and the demand for rental housing fell sharply, leading to an increase in the vacancy rate of houses and a sharp decline in revenue.
Before the epidemic, there have been many problems in the long-term rental apartment industry. According to the China Real Estate News think tank article, 2015-2017 was the investment outlet for the long-term rental industry. The market funds turned to tighten in 2018-2019, and the long-term rental apartment The industry has not explored a clear path to profitability. Capital intervention tends to be cautious, the money-burning model is going to the end, and the closure of long-term rental apartments is not uncommon.
The reporter noticed that long-term rental apartments are mostly for the young people. In the Shanghai rights protection QQ group, it can be seen that post-90s and post-00s account for 76%, and the proportion of other rights protection groups is also between 55%-75%. The lack of social experience and the poor ability to take risks have caused these young people to encounter trouble as soon as they enter the society.
"It is best to sign a written lease contract to verify whether the lease period, rent and payment methods are in line with the lease agreement." With regard to the lease and contract, Xiong Bingwan suggested, "Confirm whether the lessor is the owner, you can check the real estate certificate or go to Real Estate Registry for inquiries." If the lessor is not the owner, you need to make sure that the owner agrees to sublet, and you need to check the lease agreement between the lessor and the owner to see if the lease period covers the sublet's lease period, and the contract cancellation clauses of both parties. Wait.
(Xiong Ke, Lin Xi, Zhu Chang, Dai Si, Liu Wei are pseudonyms in the text)
Intern Hu Jingyi China Youth Daily · China Youth Network reporter Wang Yejie