The contradiction between housing supply and demand highlights frequent problems in the rental market
How to make up for the shortcomings of housing in big cities
● Damaged housing equipment, no maintenance, few suitable housing, incorrect housing information, non-refundable or less refundable deposit are common pain points when renting a house
● The housing problem is most prominent in big cities. The housing rental market has now entered a stage dominated by stock housing. The outstanding problem is how to achieve simultaneous rental and sales and promote the healthy development of the rental market
● The standardization and future development of the leasing market need to play the decisive role of the market mechanism in the allocation of resources, and better play the important role of the government in housing security and market supervision, and construct a multi-level, diversified, classified, and standardized Stable leasing market supply system and legal and compliant leasing market
□ Trainee reporter Sun Tianjiao
□ Our reporter Chen Lei
"Vigorously develop rental housing and solve outstanding problems of housing in big cities." At the recent National Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Work Conference, this became one of the eight priorities for housing and urban-rural construction in 2021.
The "China Housing Development Report (2020-2021)" recently released by the Institute of Financial Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences stated that problems in the housing rental market are emerging one after another, and "explosion" incidents occur frequently.
According to experts interviewed by a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily, the root cause of the problems in the housing rental market is the high demand for rental housing and the insufficient supply, especially in large cities.
Experts suggest that the housing leasing market has entered a stage where the housing leasing market is dominated by inventory. To regulate the healthy development of the housing leasing market, it is necessary to pay attention to the construction of affordable leasing housing and to issue housing leasing regulations as soon as possible to provide a complete system guarantee for the housing leasing market .
Rental problems are endless
From the prominent contradiction between supply and demand
Mr. Zhang is a native of Anhui. After graduation, he went to Beijing to explore. Now he has just worked for a year, but he has already felt the difficulty of renting a house in a big city.
Mr. Zhang told a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that he rented one of a three-bedroom apartment with an area of less than 10 square meters on the app of an intermediary. The monthly rent is 3,000 yuan, which accounts for almost half of his salary. There is no sense of happiness in life."
Less than a year after graduation, he moved three times. This is Mr. Liu's experience in renting a house.
Mr. Liu works in an institution in Beijing and rents a house through an agency.
According to Mr. Liu, when signing the contract, the intermediary verbally stated that the rent payment method was a mortgage payment of three, but in the contract, the rent for the second quarter was set to be paid one month in advance, which was essentially a rent contract with two mortgages.
"When the intermediary asked me for the second quarter rent, I negotiated with them whether the rent period could be shortened to one quarter. I used a one-month deposit as compensation. The intermediary strongly disagreed and said that if I did not perform the contract, I had to immediately Move away."
In order not to be deducted from the deposit, Mr. Liu tried to solve the problem by suing the court, reporting violations of the partition, and calling the 12345 hotline to request mediation.
Finally, the intermediary company made a compromise, saying it was willing to shorten the lease period to one quarter.
"However, in the process of the final refund, the intermediary company changed its mind and made me bear the cost of removing the partition." Mr. Liu said.
Not only tenants, but also landlords who rent out their homes are also troubled.
Both Ms. Zhang and her husband who live in Beijing have retired. They have three houses, one is for living, and the other two are rented out.
Sometimes no suitable tenant can be found, and their house is empty for half a year.
In September 2020, the "2020 Blue Book of Chinese Youth Rental Life" was released, which stated that urban rental life has become the choice of over 200 million people.
In late December 2020, 58.com and Anjuke jointly released the "Summary Report on China's Housing Leasing Market in 2020", which stated that among the first-tier cities, Beijing has the largest rental demand in the country, followed by Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou.
House equipment is damaged and no one repairs, there are few suitable housing, the housing information is wrong, non-refundable or less refundable deposits are common pain points when renting a house.
In late December 2020, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Institute of Finance and Economics released the "China Housing Development Report (2020-2021)", stating that the current housing leasing market has an endless stream of problems, with frequent occurrences of "explosions".
Ni Pengfei, director of the Center for Urban and Competitiveness Research of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, stated in the report text provided to reporters of the Rule of Law Daily that the contradiction between housing supply and demand in big cities is still quite prominent.
Lou Jianbo, director of the Real Estate Law Research Center of Peking University Law School, also pointed out in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that the existence of problems in the housing rental market actually reflects the problem of insufficient supply in the rental market.
Zhao Xiuchi, a professor at the Capital University of Economics and Business and vice president and secretary-general of the Beijing Real Estate Law Society, told the reporter of the Rule of Law Daily that housing problems are most prominent in big cities.
Nowadays, the housing leasing market has entered a stage where stock housing is the mainstay. The outstanding problem is how to achieve simultaneous leasing and sales and promote the healthy development of the leasing market.
Improve the laws and regulations
Standardize the leasing market order
"Prominent housing problems in big cities" have entered the national agenda.
From December 16th to 18th, 2020, the Central Economic Work Conference was held, which emphasized the need to solve prominent housing problems in big cities.
One of the specific measures is to attach great importance to the construction of affordable rental housing, speed up the improvement of long-term rental housing policies, gradually enable rental housing to have equal rights in enjoying public services, and standardize the development of the long-term rental housing market.
Other measures include: reducing the burden of renting housing taxes and fees, rectifying the order of the leasing market, regulating market behavior, and reasonably regulating rent levels.
On December 21, 2020, the National Housing and Urban-Rural Construction Work Conference was held.
The meeting put forward that one of the eight key points of housing and urban-rural construction in 2021 is to vigorously develop rental housing and solve outstanding problems in large cities.
"Strengthen the construction of the housing market system and housing security system, accelerate the filling of shortcomings in rental housing, and solve the housing problems of new citizens, young people, especially those engaged in basic public services and other housing difficulties." The meeting said.
The Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development also requires that the construction of a housing security system with affordable rental housing and common property housing as the main body be accelerated.
Expand the supply of affordable rental housing, ensure public rental housing, and focus on the development of policy-based rental housing in large cities with net population influx.
Standardize the development of the housing leasing market, accelerate the cultivation of specialized and large-scale housing leasing companies, and establish a sound housing leasing management service platform.
Rectify the leasing market order and standardize market behavior.
It is worth noting that on December 29, 2020, at a series of themed press conferences in Beijing "Reviewing the 13th Five-Year Plan and Looking Forward to the 14th Five-Year Plan", Zhang Guowei, deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, proposed that the plan will be in 2021. Supply the market with about 5,000 sets of rental housing, focusing on solving the transitional housing needs of new citizens and other groups.
On the same day, the executive meeting of the Shanghai Municipal Government agreed in principle to the "Implementation Opinions on Further Rectifying and Regulating the Order of the Housing Rental Market in this Municipality" and made arrangements for rectifying and regulating the order of the housing rental market in Shanghai.
Regulating the order of the housing rental market has become the consensus of regulatory agencies.
Regarding the housing leasing market, Ni Pengfei’s suggestions are: to start the implementation of the "New Resident Housing Project" of "Combination of Rental and Sale" and establish a housing system of "Combination of Rent and Sale"; implement the "322" New Resident Housing Project to tap the potential of space The three potentials, business potential and crowd potential, focus on the two major spaces around metropolises and in the main urban areas, and take the form of purchase and lease.
In Ni Pengfei's view, the key to solving the problems in the housing rental market is to improve the housing system for new citizens. At the same time, it is necessary to improve the guarantee mechanism for affordable rental housing.
Chen Yuefeng, deputy dean of the Faculty of Law of East China University of Political Science and Law, said in an interview with a reporter from the Rule of Law Daily that the regulation and future development of the leasing market not only need to give play to the decisive role of the market mechanism in the allocation of resources, but also to make better use of the government’s residence The important role of security and market supervision is to build a multi-level, diversified, classified, standardized and stable leasing market supply system and a legally compliant leasing market.
Chen Yuefeng suggested to the reporter of "Rules of Law Daily" that issues such as information asymmetry, indemnification of housing needs, and rights and interests protection that are difficult to resolve through market mechanisms can be resolved through scientific legislation to improve rules, strict law enforcement and strengthen supervision during and after the event.
In Lou Jianbo's view, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development has solicited public opinions on the "Regulations on Housing Leasing (Draft for Comment)", "We will definitely be able to improve the leasing market through the improvement of laws and regulations."
Equal rights to rent-purchase housing
Effectively protect housing rights
At the Central Economic Conference, "gradually making rent-and-purchasing houses have equal rights in enjoying public services" was placed in an important position.
Among them, "public services" include household registration, education, social security, pension, medical and other aspects.
Zhao Xiuchi believes that buying a house is the property right, and renting a house is the right to use. The two have different rights and interests, but if the public services are the same, it will greatly promote the development of the rental market.
On December 22, 2020, Suzhou City, Jiangsu Province announced the “Implementation Opinions on Further Promoting the Settlement of Non-registered Population in the City”, which mentioned that the implementation of the policy for permanent residents of rental housing to settle in community public households, with the consent of the owner of the house Settlement in the location of the house, you can also settle in the community where the house is located, breaking the invisible door.
In fact, as early as Suzhou, dozens of cities, including Wuxi City in Jiangsu Province and Jinan City in Shandong Province, had already issued relevant regulations for renting houses.
Zhao Xiuchi said that in the context of simultaneous rent and purchase, "renting a house means settlement" reduces the cost of population entry, is conducive to attracting talents, and is an important step in the realization of the same right of rent and purchase.
In view of the policies that some cities can also settle down for renting houses and the issue of the same rights of rent and purchase behind them, Chen Yuefeng believes that the city government's policies for house purchase and settlement, talent settlement and even renting settlement are worthy of recognition.
At the basic level of people's livelihood, it is more important to adopt various effective measures to effectively protect the housing rights of the actual population in the city, and to realize "home ownership".
In Lou Jianbo's view, to achieve the same right of rent and purchase, it involves many aspects of public service policies, including household registration system, medical treatment, and enrollment. It is actually a very complicated issue. The issue of lease should be simplified, for example, more critical The question is whether the tenant’s right to lease can be properly implemented.
Under the same right of hire and purchase, how should leasing companies respond?
Lou Jianbo believes that there are two types of leasing companies in our country. One is the innovation of real estate companies to become leasing companies, and the other is leasing companies that increase supply by transforming abandoned factories.
Lou Jianbo said that we now have a large number of leasing companies that have been transferred from intermediaries to take down the idle housing estates in the society and renovate them before renting out.
For this "two-landlord" leasing method, it is necessary to set a threshold of own funds, so that the disorder and monopoly problem can be solved.
"In general, we should encourage the development of leasing companies that really increase the supply of rental housing, rather than'second-landlord' leasing companies."
Zhao Xiuchi also believes that asset-light institution leasing that earns the price difference through the acquisition of individual houses should not be encouraged to become popular, but individual landlords should be encouraged to directly publish listings on housing leasing platforms to reduce intermediary links.