The "small problems" of property services are related to the "big people's livelihood" of grassroots governance.
The property is responsible for the safety protection, environmental sanitation, maintenance of public facilities and other important responsibilities of urban residents.
With the rapid economic development and the continuous improvement of people's living standards, people have higher and higher requirements for living quality and higher requirements for property services.
However, in recent years, conflicts between property owners and owners have been prone to occur frequently. Some owners fail to pay property fees on time, and some property companies fail to provide high-quality services, resulting in a difficult reconciliation situation, which has become a hot spot of social concern.
In order to further resolve the contradiction between the owners and the property, and explore the multi-governance system, the Jingwei version of the rule of law will open a column of "Focus on Property Matters" from today, and publish a series of investigative reports, so stay tuned.
□ Our reporter Zhao Li
Having been engaged in property service work for many years, the biggest headache for property manager Li Bing is the problem of the owner's arrears of property service fees.
The reasons for the default by the owners are not complicated. Most of them think that the service level of the property is low and does not match the cost they pay.
"I paid the money, but I didn't get the corresponding service, and sometimes I got angry. The cost of filing a lawsuit is too high. The only thing I can do is not to pay the property fee." said Mr. Qin, the owner of a community in Xicheng District, Beijing, where Li Bing works. .
For this situation, Li Bing felt that it was a "dead end": "Some owners do not pay the fee because they are not satisfied with the service level, and the property management company has no money or enough motivation to strengthen the service, resulting in a decline in the quality of the property service in the community. This leads to more owners not paying fees, and the final result is that the value of the community depreciates. This is a 'lose-lose'."
But this logic has not been recognized by the owner: "If the property charge rate in a community is less than half and it is operating at a loss, why hasn't the property management company withdrawn?"
What is the real reason why some owners firmly refuse to pay the property service fee?
A reporter from the "Rules of Law Daily" recently conducted a survey.
"Our owners did the work of the property"
"It's not that you don't pay, it's just that some properties don't deserve the money." Speaking of the property in his own community, Mr. Gong, the owner of a community in Fengtai District, Beijing, complained helplessly, "There is no access control in the unit building. Not long ago, a resident on the first floor was arrested at home Thief; the house needs to be repaired, and the property owner who comes over asks for one or two hundred yuan first, and his attitude is extremely poor."
Mr. Gong believes that such a poor property service does not match the property service fee he pays at all. "The owners of the community said they would fire the property and replace it with a new one, but there has never been a sufficient number of owners to vote at the owners' meeting, so many people We started to owe the property fee, and as a result, the property sent someone to take glue to block our door lock, and the contradiction became more and more serious.”
In the evaluation of "unworthy", Mr. Gong believes that it is not his own words, but his true feelings after comparison.
Eight years ago, he lived in a community in the North Fifth Ring Road and enjoyed good property services. "When entering and leaving the community, the guards can almost greet them with a smile on their faces. If they take heavy things, the guards will take the initiative to help them. When something needs to be repaired at home, the property will appear in about 10 minutes with just a phone call." Mr. Gong said.
Similarly, Mr. Li from Henan Province refused to pay the property fee because he believed that the service fee was not equal to the service level.
Mr. Li lived with his parents in an old community. He found that the cleaning of the community never cleaned the green belt. The sanitation of the corridor was basically cleaned by the owner himself. The cleaning often quarreled with the owner, thinking that his salary should be low and he should pay less; Maintenance, there were many mosquitoes, and finally had to harden; after the street lights, monitoring, etc. were damaged, the owner repeatedly urged, and the property seldom responded. The water in the basement is knee-deep, and there is no response to the problems reported by the owner group. There are even frequent quarrels, which can only be solved by the owners themselves buying pumps...
"Our owners have done the property work themselves, so why do we have to pay this 'wasted money'?" This year, after Mr. Li bought flood control sandbags for the community at his own expense, he once again made it clear that he would not pay the property service fee.
During the interview, the reporter found that the reason why some owners refused to pay the property service fee was generally because they believed that the level of property service was low, for example, the car door parked in the community was pryed, and the items were lost; the electric car parked in the community was lost; the house leaked; the sewer pipe Not smooth... In such cases, the owner can't get a positive response from the property service company or can't solve the problem at all.
"Years of paying on time in exchange for inaction"
Some owners interviewed said that they paid property service fees for several years at first, but they paid on time for many years in exchange for property inaction.
"Although no one from the property management company has seen it, even though the house was stolen and no one cares, although the monitoring door downstairs was funded and installed by the owner himself, even though the corridor light was broken, I also replaced it myself, although the property is due to and part of The owners have conflicts and directly cut off the water and electricity of all the owners... But since I moved into the community, I still paid the property fee on time for 4 years." Ms. Shen from Quanzhou City, Fujian Province stated all the faults of the property management company in one breath.
A leaking incident on the outer wall of the house made Ms. Shen completely give up the idea of continuing to pay the property service fee.
That time, she contacted other property owners to apply for a public repair fund, but the property fell on deaf ears.
"In the beginning, the water stain was only as big as a seam. Later, the living room wall was directly covered with a large area, about the size of a table. The neighbors downstairs couldn't stand it, so they decided to find someone to mend it themselves, and it cost 1,000 yuan to mend a hole, and The workers said that if only one layer was repaired without repairing the top, there would still be water leaks. Not only the waterproofing had to be reworked, but the walls had to be repainted. In this way, it took a year for a leak to be solved.” Ms. Shen said that it is actually not difficult to solve. All you need is the property to apply for the Public Repair Fund to hire workers to repair it.
Mr. Zhao, from Nanchong City, Sichuan Province, has since moved into the current community. After paying the property fee on time for one year, he also chose to refuse to pay the property. The reason is also the inaction of the property.
"The house that was just renovated was completely destroyed because the property was irresponsible." Mr. Zhao recalled that he lived in the new house for about a year. He found traces of dried up sewage near the kitchen sewer. He suspected that the sewer was blocked and reversed the water, so he contacted the property. to repair.
At noon the next day, the property maintenance personnel arrived. Without careful inspection, they said that the sewer pipe was not blocked, and the sewage was the water that came up from the repair pipe downstairs a few days ago, and then left in a hurry.
In the evening of the same day, a large amount of sewage suddenly poured out of the sewer, which caused most of the floors, wooden doors and walls in the house to be soaked in latex paint, resulting in a direct economic loss of about 9,000 yuan. After inspection, it was found that the basement sewer pipe was indeed blocked by grease.
"I went to the property to negotiate compensation, and the property either delayed again and again, or shied the responsibility and said that it was not their responsibility. After that, I never paid the property fee, and I don't plan to pay it in the future. The basement belongs to the public area, and it is in their place. Within the scope of their responsibilities, even if they did not find the pipeline blocked, they would be perfunctory to ask them for maintenance, and they did not treat the owner as a service object at all.” Mr. Zhao said.
"Can't the property see that the community is dirty and messy?"
The dirty and messy community environment is also an important reason why some owners refuse to pay property service fees.
Ms. Guo from Liupanshui City, Guizhou Province described the environment of her community in this way: the green belt is overgrown with weeds and has not been trimmed for a long time; there is no parking space, and vehicles are parked indiscriminately; waste furniture, cardboard plastic, various waste products It occupies almost the entire public carport; the garbage overflows from the trash can, scattered all over the place, giving off a stench, and flies flying around; the restaurants along the streets of the community have built new oil fume pipes without permission, which not only pollutes the environment, but also makes a lot of noise, which affects rest.
"The environment in the building is not very good. The stairwell is full of tattered shoes, fruit and vegetable peels, beverage bottles, tables and chairs, etc. I have complained to the property many times, but the other party doesn't care at all, and asks me to negotiate with other residents. .” In Ms. Guo’s view, “Maintaining the community environment is the most basic responsibility of the property management. If I can’t even do this, why should I pay the property fee?”
Ms. Li, from Suzhou, Jiangsu province, suffered several injuries due to poor management of public facilities by her property.
"The glass of the fire hydrant in the community has been broken and no one has repaired it. I accidentally touched it when I pushed the battery car and cut my hand. I went to the property to solve it. It's okay to let my pigeons go several times, and even pointed at me and said, 'Who knows if you are? Injured in other places', in the end, they had to make trouble to the police station." Ms. Li recalled.
According to Ms. Li, at least a dozen residents of each building in her community push electric cars onto the elevator and charge them in the corridors of their own floors. Every day, people smoke in the elevator, throw things, spit, etc. Playing soot; many people in the community walk their dogs without a leash, even large dogs; every night, a large group of uncles and aunts gather in the ground floor or underground garage to play cards, play mahjong, and dance square dances; some people live on high floors, in the aisles Building flower stands, raising birds, placing dog cages, and building illegal buildings; the owner cannot enter the community without an access card, but in a blink of an eye, small advertisements are posted everywhere in the community... "We can see these things, can't the property be invisible? Since they are too lazy to manage, then I am too lazy to pay the property fee." Ms. Li said indignantly.
"The owner needs to fulfill the obligation to pay the property fee on time"
According to the survey experience of property services in 36 cities and 148 residential quarters published by the China Consumers Association in 2019, the on-site experience evaluation score of property services was 65.14 points, which was at a pass level as a whole.
Judging from the scores of each management link, the equipment and facility management scored 84.70 points, which was relatively high; the environmental management score was 64.89 points, which was at the pass level; the order management and customer service management were relatively low, with 59.35 points and 54.47 points, respectively, which were at the failing level. Level.
"The main reasons for the owner's refusal to pay the property service fee include dissatisfaction with the current situation of the property service, or contradictions such as personal and property losses during the property service process." Bao Hua, director of the Property Management Legal Professional Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association, said, but in fact, the owner This is not the reason for refusing to pay the property fee.
Bao Hua explained that according to Article 7 of the "Property Management Regulations", the owner must perform the obligation of "paying property service fees on time" in property management activities.
Therefore, the property service fee can only be waived before obtaining the owner status or after losing the owner status.
In addition, Bao Hua proposed that the daily maintenance and management of real estate facilities and equipment is the premise and basis for the normal use of real estate, and there are costs for maintenance and management.
Property service fees are collected to meet maintenance and management costs that can be paid in a timely manner. Without property service fees, real estate facilities and equipment cannot be maintained, let alone used.
The fundamental interest of the owner - the right to use the house will be damaged.
"The owner refuses to pay the property service fee, the maintenance and management costs of the property may be insufficient, the service level will decrease, and the owner's satisfaction will also decrease, and then continue to refuse to pay the property service fee. This is a vicious circle, once formed , it is difficult to eliminate." Bao Hua said.
"Whether property services are up to standard can be mostly quantified"
In Bao Hua's view, refusing to pay the property service fee will not only fail to resolve the conflict between the owner and the property service company, but will also lead to an escalation of the conflict.
The "2021 China Property Service Survey Report" shows that 68.38% of the owners have suffered losses due to property management negligence; 78.65% of the respondents believe that the residential properties they live in have unreasonable charges; 91.31% of the respondents Those who want to change their own property company.
The society's voice for the cancellation of property management companies is getting louder and louder.
Public data shows that from 2017 to July 2022, the People's Court of Xiangshan County, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province accepted a total of 3,308 property service contract disputes, of which 3,227 were sued by property service management companies, accounting for 97.6%.
According to statistics, the cases of property management companies claiming property service fees, public water and electricity fees, and parking space management fees account for more than 99% of the total number of cases.
Chen Youhong, an associate professor at the Institute of Administrative Management, School of Public Administration, Renmin University of China, told reporters that according to the property service agreement, the property fee is a debt relationship with a clear legal relationship.
If the owner refuses to pay the property fee on the grounds that the property company fails to provide satisfactory property services, it is necessary to prove that the property company is at fault for causing personal and property losses to the owner. Otherwise, once the property company files a lawsuit to the court, the owner will largely lose.
Beijing lawyer Wang Shude, based on his experience in handling property disputes caused by owners' refusal to pay property fees, told reporters that most property disputes are caused by owners' refusal to pay property fees due to poor service.
Whether the owner has the initiative in such cases depends on the degree of understanding of relevant laws and regulations and the reasonable application of the rules of proof. Through these means, the court can determine that the service of the property company is indeed substandard, then the property company cannot get the property in full. fee.
In addition, many property companies are slack in recourse for the owner's arrears in paying property fees, so that the owner can also invoke the relevant provisions of the statute of limitations to fight against the property company, which can also give the owner an advantage to a certain extent.
In Wang Shude's view, the main reason for the frequent occurrence of property disputes is that most property companies are early-stage property companies. These companies are formed or designated by developers, not strictly in accordance with public bidding or competition, and their service awareness is inherently insufficient.
As the owner's awareness of rights protection increases, when the service provided by the property management company is defective or other imperfections, the owner often uses refusal to pay the property fee as a way of protest.
"Of course the rights of the owners need to be maintained, but maintaining the rights requires the correct methods and methods. Disregarding the maintenance of the fundamental interests will only lead to further damage to the rights." Bao Hua believes that the property service itself has complicated affairs, diverse categories, continuous and uninterrupted, and impossible. Therefore, evaluating whether property services are legal, compliant, contractual, and reasonable is a very professional job that requires professional institutions and personnel to complete.
"Actually, whether the property service meets the standard can be quantified. To judge whether the service meets the standard, the service standard of the same type of local property and the agreement of the property service contract should be compared." Wang Shude said.
Rule of Law Daily