Policies related to housing leasing have been issued in many places——
Standardize the rental market to protect the rights and interests of tenants
China Economic Net reporter Li Fang
In recent years, renting has become one of the important ways for new citizens, young people and other groups to solve the housing problem. However, industry chaos such as breach of contract, rent increase, deduction of deposit, "partition room" and "formaldehyde room" still occur from time to time.
To vigorously develop the housing rental market, legal and regulatory guarantees are indispensable.
Since the beginning of this year, many places across the country have introduced policies and measures to regulate housing leasing, clarify industry norms, and strengthen market supervision.
On November 23, the Standing Committee of the Shanghai Municipal People's Congress passed the "Shanghai Municipal Housing Leasing Regulations", which will come into effect on February 1, 2023; It was officially implemented on the 1st, effectively curbing the chaos in the rental market; in addition, Guangzhou, Qingdao, Shijiazhuang, Foshan, Shenzhen, Changzhou and other places have also issued relevant rules, putting forward clear requirements for the protection of the rights and interests of lessees.
Curb rent chaos
The reporter combed and found that the "Regulations" of Beijing and Shanghai have clarified the rights and responsibilities of both parties to the lease.
In terms of housing rental requirements, the requirements for construction, public security, area, indoor air quality or sanitation, and environmental protection are clarified; in terms of business operations, the registration of housing leasing business entities, release of housing information, contract registration and filing, and capital supervision, etc. Put forward a request to clearly include the second landlord in the supervision, and at the same time protect the financial security of the tenants.
Zhao Qingxiang, secretary-general of the Beijing Real Estate Intermediary Industry Association, said that as the country's first local regulation regulating housing leasing, the "Beijing Housing Leasing Regulations" has left enough space and laid a foundation for market management innovation.
"Specifically speaking, the "Regulations" set the threshold for market players, which is equivalent to putting on tight hoops for individual second landlords, creating a template for business service behavior, adding an insurance lock to leasing funds, and creating controls for market management. Taiwan, set a regulating valve for market regulation." Zhao Qingxiang said.
"Since the implementation of the "Beijing Housing Leasing Regulations", market entities such as brokerage agencies and leasing companies have actively carried out self-inspection and self-correction and publicity and training, and adjusted corporate business strategies within the scope of supervision, including housing collection standards, rent pricing, and housing resources. Promotion and services for owners and tenants.” Huang Hui, a senior analyst at the Shell Research Institute, told reporters that the “Regulations” strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of lessees in terms of living conditions, safety guarantees, and stable rents, and curb false listings and rent increases in violation of contracts. At the same time, through various dispute mediation mechanisms, the rights and interests of lessees are effectively protected.
Both Beijing and Shanghai explicitly prohibit "partition rooms" with huge safety risks.
The "Beijing Housing Leasing Regulations" clearly stipulates that the original planning and design of the room is the minimum rental unit, and the internal structure of the house cannot be changed by partitions; the living room cannot be rented out alone, and the kitchen, bathroom, balcony, storage room and other non-residential spaces cannot be rented out. for living.
"The division and lease of the living room attracts a lot of attention in the market. For this, Beijing has very strict regulations. Not only the living room is not allowed to be rented out alone, but also areas such as balconies and storage rooms are not allowed to be rented out. For enterprises, the operating space will be compressed." Zhang Bo, director of the branch of 58 Anju Guest House Industry Research Institute, said.
Improve regulatory policies
In order to avoid the rapid rise of rent levels and increase the burden on tenants, many places have introduced policies to strengthen the supervision of rent levels.
Beijing and Shanghai stipulate that when the housing rent has risen significantly or is likely to rise significantly, price intervention measures such as price increase declaration, rent limit or rent increase can be adopted in accordance with the law to stabilize the rent level; In October, the reference price of housing rental covering all districts of the city was announced to provide guidance for market rents.
At the same time, regarding the hidden financial risks in the leasing market, many places require leasing companies to entrust the deposit and rent through a third-party account to avoid random misappropriation of funds.
For example, Beijing stipulates that the deposit and rent collected by housing leasing companies should generally not exceed 1 month and 3 months, and need to be escrowed through a third-party special account, and the excess rent should be brought under supervision; Open a special account for the supervision of housing leasing transaction funds, and publicize it to the public. If leasing companies collect rent for more than 3 months and deposits for more than 1 month at a time, the rent should be deposited into the special account; " advocates that lessors collect rent on a monthly basis, and clarifies the supervision method of "one account, consistent cycle, and conditional unfreezing".
"Since this year, improving the housing rental market supervision policy is a key task of local governments in the housing rental field. Various policies have been introduced in succession. Beijing and Shanghai have even issued housing rental regulations to strengthen the supervision of the rental market in the form of legislation. Xu Yuejin, deputy research director of the Index Business Department of the China Index Research Institute, suggested that in order to fully implement market supervision and standardize market operations, it is necessary to speed up the construction of an information platform for government housing leasing, use information technology to strengthen contract filing management, and strengthen leasing contract filing and coordination. The association of various social public services to consolidate the data and information foundation for market supervision.
People in the industry believe that with the introduction of housing leasing policies in various places, the key to the next step is to implement the responsibilities of all parties and strengthen dynamic management and control. It is recommended to mobilize the power of the grassroots governance system and industry self-discipline, and at the same time strengthen the construction of leasing information platforms to consolidate the foundation of market supervision.
Strengthen dynamic management and control
Different from the supervision of the entire chain and process of commercial housing from land transfer, planning and construction, pre-sale approval, property management, etc., leasing involves a wider range of management.
Li Yujia, chief researcher of the Housing Policy Research Center of the Guangdong Provincial Institute of Urban Planning, suggested that on the one hand, we should mobilize the grassroots governance forces such as streets, communities, and villages, and on the other hand, we should also use the power of industry self-discipline to form government supervision and industry self-discipline. , Micro-subject supervision or reporting system.
"The "Regulations" released by Shanghai this time clarifies the governance mechanism of combining divisions, townships (townships) are responsible, village assistance, and industry self-discipline, and it is expected to form an effective comprehensive governance system." Li Yujia said.
Chen Xiao, a senior analyst at Zhuge Xunfang Data Research Center, said that, first of all, the relevant government departments should check the rental status of the community, collect statistics on household information, and include them in the grid management; secondly, immediately deal with violations such as non-refundable deposits Punishment measures to ensure the legitimate rights and interests of leasing groups; thirdly, all departments must strengthen coordination and joint action, and start to investigate bad intermediaries and other entities in various aspects.
In fact, in addition to regulating the development of the housing rental industry, the central and local governments are also constantly exploring ways to strengthen affordable rental housing.
For example, in 2021, the affordable rental housing policy was launched, and a series of supporting policies were introduced around its construction facilities, gradually forming a closed-loop business model of housing rental "financing, investment, management and withdrawal".
According to statistics from the China Index Research Institute, as of June 2022, more than 80 provinces and cities across the country have issued local documents on promoting the development of affordable rental housing.
During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, 40 key cities across the country plan to add 6.5 million units (rooms) of indemnificatory rental housing, of which 942,000 units (rooms) have been completed in 2021, and 2.4 million units (rooms) are planned to be raised in 2022.
In addition to 40 key cities, another 34 cities announced plans to raise affordable rental housing during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, with a total of about 1.23 million units (rooms).
Yan Yuejin, Research Director of the Think Tank Center of the E-House Research Institute, said that this year, relevant policies such as short-term rental management and control and long-term affordable rental housing preparations have been introduced intensively, and the development of the housing rental market has been significantly strengthened.
"Driven by the demonstrations in Beijing and Shanghai, more cities may introduce policies related to housing leasing in the future to further regulate the development of the industry and promote the formation of a housing pattern of 'both rental and purchase'." Yan Yuejin said.