Long-term rental apartments in Hangzhou explode continuously
The landlord and tenant are both pitted
"China Economic Weekly" reporter Chen Yiliang | Report from Hangzhou
On August 27, the "Friends" of long-term rental apartments in Hangzhou exploded. A large number of tenants and landlords gathered at the headquarters of "Friends" Hangzhou to defend their rights.
On August 29, another parent in Hangzhou rented an apartment "nest guest" also exploded, which also caused people to gather to defend their rights.
After the accident of the "Youke" and the "Chaoke", a Hangzhou long-term rental apartment named "Quju" also owed the rent to the landlord, almost on the brink of thunder.
A reporter from China Economic Weekly visited Hangzhou and found that, in fact, since 2018, there have been many long-term rental apartment explosions in Hangzhou.
Many parents rented apartments in Hangzhou exploded with thunder, landlords and tenants were blinded
On September 3, Xiao Chen, a tenant who rented a house to "Youke", told the reporter of China Economic Weekly that in May this year, he rented a small three-bedroom apartment near Jinsha Lake in Hangzhou City from "Youke" for the whole family. For 4 people, the monthly rent is 4200 yuan, the rent is paid half a year, the deposit is one month's rent, and the total rent and deposit are 29,400 yuan.
"I have lived and worked nearby after graduating from university. I understand the rental prices here. Most of the small three-bedroom rentals here are around 4,500 yuan, so I feel that the housing provided by their'friends' is relatively cheap, so I rented it for half a year. I thought that after only living for more than 3 months, something went wrong. Now the landlord asks me to move out, otherwise the water and electricity will be cut off and the police will be called." Xiao Chen said.
On August 29, Xiao Chen rushed to the office building where "Youke" was located and met many tenants like him.
"At that time, there were a lot of people gathered at the scene and the police registered us, but I estimate that the remaining three months of rent and one month of deposit will be difficult to get back, and it may cost 16,000 yuan." Xiao Chen said.
The same problem is encountered by tenant Xiao Wang, who lives in a community on Shaoxing Road, Hangzhou.
At the beginning of August this year, Xiao Wang rented a small house from the "chaos" for a monthly rent of 1,600 yuan.
At that time, the "chao guest" salesman told Xiao Wang that if the rent for the house is 2300 yuan per month, quarterly payment is 2100 yuan per month, half-year payment is 1900 yuan per month, and annual payment is only 1600 yuan per month. Taking into account the price issue, Xiao Wang chose to pay annually.
"If you pay annually, the monthly rent is only 1,600 yuan, which is a very cost-effective price. At that time, with the deposit, I paid a total of 20,800 yuan. Now that I have just lived for a month, the landlord will come and drive me away. He said he only got it. The nest guest's rent for one month." Xiao Wang said.
The landlord was also the victim in this serial explosion of long-term rental apartments.
On September 4th, Mr. Zhou, the landlord of "The Nester", told the reporter of China Economic Weekly that he had just entrusted his set of real estate in Desheng, Hangzhou to "The Nester" for a period of 3 years.
On August 29, the staff of "Chaoke" clearly told Mr. Zhou that the company would no longer pay him rent, and both parties terminated the contract in advance.
"The other party verbally told me about the agreement, but I dare not drive the tenant out for the time being, because the words are useless, I consulted a lawyer, and now I am going to send the termination statement to the company office, and I will communicate with the tenant later. "Mr. Zhou said.
Mr. Zhou told reporters that he has several houses under his own name, and he has entrusted several real estate agencies to rent out, and his family’s financial situation is good. "My condition is not bad. Some landlords have entrusted several houses to the nest guest. , Now the rent income is gone, especially for those landlords who "reserve loans by renting". They have to pay monthly payments to the bank every month. They are under great pressure. They have to borrow money to repay the loan. Now the landlord has to drive the tenant out. , It is not so easy, it is difficult to coordinate." Mr. Zhou said.
It is understood that the "nesker" has a relatively high reputation in Hangzhou, and the total number of landlords and tenants involved far exceeds that of the "friends".
At present, the landlords and tenants of the "nesters" have established more than 10 rights protection WeChat groups, and many rights protection groups are full.
The usual operations involved in long-term rental of apartments: "high in and low out" and "long income and short payment"
According to Zhejiang TV Economic Life Channel, a landlord recently went to the “chao guest” to ask why after he rented the house to the company at a price of 4,200 yuan, the company only sublet it to the tenant at a low price of 2,800 yuan?
"As a company, do you have so much money to lose? Don't you get paid?" Worried that the company will not be able to perform the contract in the future, the landlord, Ms. Shi, requested that the "chao guest" terminate the lease contract.
Coincidentally, she paid a rent deposit of 2,000 yuan, but thought that the rent was too cheap. Tenant Ms. Chen, who wished to see the landlord for verification, also went to ask the "chaoser" for an explanation.
"The house is 70 square meters, near the subway entrance of Zhenning Road, and the monthly rent is 1,800 yuan. This price is very cheap." Ms. Chen therefore asked to "see the landlord" or check the rental agreement signed by the "chao guest" and the landlord, and then contact " The nest guest signed a long-term rental agreement, but the nest guest refused.
Li Ming (pseudonym), a long-term rental apartment practitioner who has been deeply involved in the Hangzhou market for many years, told the reporter of China Economic Weekly that "high entry and low exit" and "long income and short payment" are the usual methods used by some long-term rental apartments.
Li Ming introduced that "high entry, low exit" means that long-term rental apartment companies collect houses from landlords at a price higher than the prevailing market price, and then rent out to tenants at a price lower than the market price after receiving the simple layout of the house.
"Sometimes the rental price of the house is even lower than the price of the house, and long-term rental apartment companies have to bear the price difference, which is obviously unreasonable." Li Ming said.
"Long-term receipt and short-payment" means that long-term apartment companies will collect rents from tenants for more than half a year, or even one to two years, but rents to landlords are mostly paid monthly.
"High entry, low exit" and "long income short payment" will accumulate huge potential risks for long-term rental apartment companies, but why does this business model still apply to long-term rental apartments involved?
Li Ming told a reporter from China Economic Weekly that all long-term rental apartment companies may have used this model in the early development process, but they will be relatively rational and formal after scaling up, and gradually get rid of this model.
"Most long-term rental apartment projects are in the A round of financing. They belong to early-stage entrepreneurial teams. The most important thing is to find investors to invest money. Investors should look at the company’s market share, cash flow, and the growth of the company. 。Acquisition at high prices and renting houses at low prices will quickly increase market share. Tenants will rent out six months or one year of rent to long-term rental apartments at once, but long-term rental apartments only need to rent to the landlord on a monthly basis. The flow is very beautiful, it will form a pool of funds, and then we can take the money to collect more houses at a high price, so that the growth of the company will be good? But when faced with risks like the epidemic, many use this strategy The company may have problems." Li Ming said.
Li Ming said that since the beginning of this year, due to the epidemic, long-term rental apartment companies have been cautious in collecting houses, "because the existing houses are not easy to rent", but in the first half of the year, a relative told Li Ming that long-term apartment companies would Li Ming said bluntly, "It is paradoxical, I feel something is going to happen."
"My relative has two properties entrusted to the management of the long-term rental apartment company I work for. The price I gave him is 5% higher than the market price, but in the first half of the year, this relative said that there are other long-term rental apartment companies that are willing to compare the market price. The price was 15% higher. I told him that there are few renters now, and the house in hand cannot be rented out. The price of the house has fallen. Why does anyone buy the house against the trend? I think, maybe A long-term rental apartment is facing great financial pressure. It is hoped that through high-priced housing, and then low-cost subletting out, one-time rent for six months or one year from the tenants can alleviate the financial pressure. Of course, this may also be caused by this company. Finally, premeditatedly,'make' a rent, and then'retire'." Li Ming said.
"It is a financial game in the final analysis"
Zhang Ping, head of a member unit of the Hangzhou Housing Rental Management Association, believes that the model of "high-in-low-out" and "long-term income and short-term payment" has contributed to the development of many long-term rental apartment companies, but excessive use of this model The competition in the industry has become a financial game. Once it encounters market risks, the "game players" who have played the game will immediately die and leave a place.
Zhang Ping told the reporter of China Economic Weekly that Hangzhou experienced thunderstorms in long-term rental apartments in 2018.
"It is almost in sync with the P2P thunderstorm that year. I heard that it was because the long-term rental apartment owner invested the funds into the P2P business after obtaining the rent prepaid by the tenant. After the relevant P2P company closed down, the capital chain of the long-term rental apartment was also broken. Some Long-term rental apartments and P2P companies are interdependent. When the development of long-term rental apartments requires funds, P2P is also "generously donate", because P2P funds also require investment targets, and both are both prosperous and loss-making." Ping said.
Zhang Ping believes that the expansion model of long-term rental apartments is somewhat similar to P2P.
"P2P uses high interest rates to lure investors, obtain investors’ funds, make capital pools, advertise, and invest in projects. If they develop well, they can expand quickly and expand quickly. Long-term apartment rentals also use high rents to induce landlords. Entrust the real estate to them, they lure tenants to rent at low prices, obtain a large amount of funds from tenants through "long income and short payment", form a capital pool, and then use the funds in the capital pool to advertise and invest in projects to support the enterprise Continue to expand at high prices." Zhang Ping said that if such a model does not operate well or encounters policy risks, problems will immediately arise.
Zhang Ping believes that the crazy expansion of P2P and long-term rental apartments can be understood as a kind of "financial innovation." "Many government agencies and financial institutions have given them a platform." But in the final analysis, this is a lack of Financial innovation with effective supervision has great potential risks. It has pitted many investors and many landlords and tenants.
"So we often say that this is a financial game in the final analysis, and there are a group of people in Jiangsu and Zhejiang who played this game very slippery and designed the legal text to be impeccable. As far as I know, the long-term rental apartment in Hangzhou that exploded in 2018 was victimized. It is very difficult for people to file a case after they report it. The company goes bankrupt and liquidates on the grounds of'bad management', and the victims can't get the money. It is very difficult to defend their rights. For this time (the explosion), I don't know what the situation will be. This is really a test of law enforcement. Wisdom." Zhang Ping said.
Zhang Ping introduced to a reporter from China Economic Weekly a tenant victim of an apartment rented by Hangzhou Ding's parents who had a thunderstorm in 2018. The other party said that he has not received any refunds since the report.
"This time, the intensity of the thunderstorm for long-term rental apartments in Hangzhou may be greater than in 2018. At least tens of thousands of tenants and landlords have been damaged." Zhang Ping said.
Zhang Ping told a reporter from China Economic Weekly that the cash flow of long-term rental apartment companies was impacted by the epidemic, and the industry suffered huge losses. Long-term rental apartment companies with relatively weak anti-risk capabilities would encounter great business risks, and some companies even deliberately The sword went slant, and finally "cooked a hand" before leaving, but the entire industry is also exploring a more robust business model to hedge the risks brought by the epidemic.
"Since the epidemic, we have seen that Mofang Group has changed some white-collar apartments to blue-collar apartments,'Lehu' launched its first corporate service apartment project in Beijing, and'Woqu' also launched its first corporate apartment, Huashe Apartment. Under the epidemic The to B business model like the blue-collar apartment is definitely more advantageous. The to B model can be used to supplement the deficiencies of the to C model. This is an adjustment trend of the entire industry.” Zhang Ping said.
Regarding the future development of the long-term rental apartment industry, Wang Xiaoqian, an analyst at the Zhuge Finding Data Research Center, told the reporter of China Economic Weekly that in recent years, the long-term rental apartment industry has grown wildly and chaotically, but this does not represent the long-term rental apartment industry. The future development is worrying.
Wang Xiaoqian said that since the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China in 2017, the core content of the long-term real estate mechanism was "simultaneous rent and sale." The housing leasing market ushered in a period of rapid development. Capital from various sources entered the market to grab beaches for long-term rental apartments, but long-term rental apartments under favorable policies The savage growth and rapid development of the rental market are chaotic and turbulent, such as the free formaldehyde incident and the rampant rental loan market, and frequent lightning explosions.
“But this does not mean that the future development of long-term rental apartments is worrying. Under the policy dividend, with the precipitation of the institution’s operating experience, long-term rental apartments still have a chance of survival in the future. First of all, if the institution is to continue its operation, it must do a good job in dealing with tenants. The guarantee of renting an apartment, increasing the renewal rate, and reducing the increase in costs caused by vacant housing. Secondly, the payment method for long-term rental apartments should not rely on financial means, and reduce the proportion of rental loan payment methods. Thirdly, the scale of the enterprise must expand steadily. Radical expansion." Wang Xiaoqiang said.
Wang Xiaoqiang believes that the entire leasing market is currently insufficiently regulated and industry management is imminent. The government and relevant regulatory authorities need to conduct in-depth studies, such as strengthening the financial supervision of leasing agencies, restricting enterprises from excessive use of financial leverage, strengthening the standardization of the leasing market, and accelerating housing leasing The regulations are promulgated to protect the equal interests of tenants, landlords and intermediaries.
Recently, apart from Hangzhou, long-term rental apartment explosions have occurred in Chengdu, Xi'an, Shanghai, Hefei, Guangzhou and other places. Risk warnings have been issued in many places. It is recommended that consumers choose housing leasing companies carefully, carefully confirm rental prices, and use contract model texts. .
(Zhang Ping is a pseudonym in the text)
(This article was published in China Economic Weekly, Issue 17 of 2020)