□ Our reporter Wen Lijuan
How much the community's public revenue is, and where it is spent - these two questions are completely confusing to Mr. Li, a resident of a community in Chaoyang District, Beijing, because "the property is not publicized, and it is not informed if it is asked."
Since settling down in the community in 2018, Mr. Li has paid the property fee on time every year, but he has always been dissatisfied with the service quality of the property company, especially since the other party has never disclosed the public benefits of the community to the owner for many years, even if he and the Neighbors have repeatedly @ the property in the owner group, and even come to ask them to disclose the details of their income and expenditure, but they have never received a clear response.
According to Article 282 of the Civil Code, the income generated by the construction unit, property service enterprise or other managers using the common part of the owner, after deducting reasonable costs, belongs to the owner's joint ownership.
In actual work, many communities entrust public facilities to property management companies for operation and management, and the owners do not participate in them.
Over time, these public benefits are easily used by property management companies, and some owners ignore or even "give up" these rights.
The "Rule of Law Daily" reporter recently visited several communities in Beijing and found that the public revenue accounts of many communities are rarely published, and most owners have little knowledge of the benefits.
A number of interviewed experts pointed out that managing the public income account of the community is not only related to the quality of life of residents, but also reflects the ability of social grassroots governance.
Under the premise that relevant laws and regulations clarify the attribution of public benefits, it is necessary to strengthen the openness and transparency of community property information, protect the right of owners to know, and at the same time improve the supervision and management mechanism, enhance the legal awareness of owners, and solve the "mystery" of public benefits through the rule of law.
Widespread sources of public revenue
Most owners don't know
The reporter randomly interviewed more than 20 owners in Beijing, Tianjin, Hunan, Guangdong and other places and found that most of the owners did not know which community facilities belong to the owners' common property and which income should belong to the owners.
"Every day I see advertisements at the entrance of the underground garage and the elevator room of the community, but because I am usually busy with work, I don't think about the advertising revenue at all, thinking that they are all owned by the property." Mr. Zhang, who lives in a community in Shantou City, Guangdong Province, told me Reporter, the commercial housing community has some benefits to some extent, but I can't tell exactly what it includes.
In fact, in recent years, the sources of operating income of the community have become increasingly diverse.
According to Li Hui (pseudonym), a property staff member, advertising revenue in public areas of the community, such as outdoor advertising, elevator advertising, exterior wall advertising, etc.; parking berth revenue; operating room revenue; express cabinets and sales that occupy public areas Income from machines, etc.; income from battery car charging piles; levied compensation for public parts; operating income from public facilities such as event venues, clubs, and swimming pools; some communication operation management fees; income from property management rooms; compensation for damage to public facilities in the community… … These are all sources of community public benefits.
Taking a community in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province where he worked as an example, he made a detailed calculation to the reporter: the community is located at the subway entrance. About 600,000 yuan.
"Elevator advertisements and parking spaces are the major sources of revenue." Li Hui said that some elevators have installed 25-inch LCD advertisements, and the rent for each block is about 1,700 yuan per year; each elevator has 3 frame advertisements, and the rent for each block is about 700 yuan. To 800 yuan/year; each elevator has a sticker advertisement on the elevator door, and the rent for each block is about 800 yuan/year.
This means that each elevator in the community earns about 4,000 yuan each year by virtue of elevator advertisements.
The income of parking spaces mainly includes above-ground and underground parking spaces. Temporary parking spaces on the ground are operated externally, 5 yuan per hour, capped at 30 yuan per day; the monthly rent of underground public parking spaces is 400 to 500 yuan per month.
According to the property contract signed by the owner of the community and the property, this part of the income is divided into fifty-fifth by the owner and the property company.
The reporter recently visited more than 10 residential areas in Beijing and found that all kinds of commercial advertisements were posted or hung in the public areas of these residential areas—elevator rooms, corridors, small gardens, building exterior walls, bulletin boards, etc.
Walking into the elevator room of a high-rise residential building in a community at will, what you can see is a number of elevator advertisements. The reporter roughly counted, 4 frame advertisements, 1 paper advertisement, and 1 electronic screen advertisement to the four walls of the elevator room. filled.
Mr. Zeng, who is engaged in the advertising industry in Beijing, told reporters that the annual income of wall advertisements and light box advertisements in the community is at least 10,000 yuan, depending on the size of the area and the content of the advertisements.
The reporter also saw at the scene that many automatic water dispensers, express cabinets, milk vending machines, mineral water vending machines, etc. were installed in the open spaces between some residential buildings.
According to the current market price, the rent of each express cabinet is generally 3,000 yuan to 4,000 yuan per year, and the rent of each mineral water and milk vending machine is about 3,000 yuan per year.
"In some communities without a homeowner's committee, these public charging items can easily become the hidden income of the property. Among these hidden income, in addition to advertising fees and land occupation fees, there are also uncommon broadband admission fees, communication base station fees, etc. Li Hui said that these incomes should be owned by all the owners in principle, but in fact, the public income of most communities has entered the income account of the property, and this part of the income is very considerable, and some even account for nearly 50% of the total income of the property. one third.
Earnings are rarely disclosed
Conflicts and disputes occur frequently
As the public income of the community has risen, the disposal of the income has become a sensitive issue.
According to Article 70 of the Property Law, the owner shall have the ownership of the exclusive parts of the building, such as the residences and commercial houses, and shall enjoy the rights of co-ownership and joint management of the common parts other than the exclusive parts.
The property management regulations in some areas are also clear. The rent and charging standards for supporting facilities in the community shall be agreed upon by the owner committee and the occupant. Property service companies that have not established an owner’s committee negotiate with the occupant and the occupant shall negotiate the contract, and shall publicize it to all owners for comments. , and regularly publicize the public revenue part and necessary expenses belonging to all owners.
As stipulated in the "Beijing Property Management Regulations", property service personnel shall set up a bulletin board in a prominent position in the property management area, truthfully publicize and timely update "the allocation of public water and electricity costs, property fees, public revenue and expenditure and special maintenance in the previous year" Use of funds”, and can inform all owners through the Internet.
"On the one hand, the owner needs to know how much and where it is used; on the other hand, the owner also needs to understand and judge the rationality of the use of the proceeds," said Qin Liangping, deputy secretary general of the Property Management Legal Professional Committee of the Beijing Lawyers Association.
Among the more than 10 communities visited by the reporter, only 2 community properties have publicized the details of public income and expenditure, and 3 community properties can meet the needs of owners to check accounts.
Most of the explanations given by the residential properties that have not published their accounts are "generally announced in the first quarter, and now they have been withdrawn."
The reporter noticed that the current publicity of public benefits in the community is still dominated by traditional post announcements. where the earnings go.
As early as March 2021, a survey report by the Jiangsu Provincial Consumer Rights Protection Committee on more than 12,000 samples showed that it is extremely common for information such as community public benefits to be opaque and the right to know of owners to not be guaranteed.
The survey data also shows that more than 60% of the respondents believe that the use of public benefits in the community is not reasonable, which is mainly reflected in "the decision-making power of the use of public benefits is mainly in the hands of the property", "the amount used does not match the balance of the public account" and "property disclosure". maintenance costs are significantly higher than the market price” and “properties always use funds first, and then notify owners” and so on.
Because of this, some owners who have a better understanding of public benefits said in an interview with reporters, "Even if there is a public announcement, it is difficult to judge the authenticity. It is better not to pay attention and be at ease."
However, with the increasing awareness of owners' rights protection in recent years, the use of public benefits has often become a focus of property disputes.
The reporter searched the China Judgment Document Network with the keyword "property + public benefits" and found that there were about 470 related documents in 2016, nearly 780 in 2017, nearly 1,500 in 2018, and more than 3,000 in the following three years.
In September of this year, a news that "community properties refused to pay operating income, and the owner's committee sued for 1.375 million yuan and was supported by the court" caused heated discussions in the society.
From September 2012 to February 2021, a property company has been providing services to a community in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province.
Before the service contract expires, the property company will audit and publicize the various operating income and temporary parking fee income during the service period.
After withdrawing from the site at the end of February 2021, the above-mentioned income was not handed over to the community property committee. The latter decided to file a lawsuit according to the resolution of the owners' congress. On the basis of deducting operating costs, the property company sought 1.375 million public benefits of the community from the property company. Yuan.
The court held that the parking fees and other operating income in the community belonged to all the owners, and the property management company should deliver the income that belonged to all owners of the community to the owners. Responsibility, the judgment supports the demands of the community industry committee.
Refinement of revenue management rules
Explore new ways of supervision
According to relevant laws and regulations, the right to decide the distribution and use of operating income rests with the owners' meeting. However, more than half of the owners must participate in the owners' meeting, which is difficult in practice.
Nowadays, in many communities, there are thousands of households at every turn, and the owners are unable to form effective supervision due to busy work, fear of trouble, and small personal strength.
Weak oversight has led to constant disputes over the ultimate use of public benefits.
During the interview, the reporter found that some owners advocated the use of proceeds for the distribution of benefits out of the mentality of "it's better to send something to your hands than to not see something"; some property management companies believed that the money could be used to supplement Special maintenance funds for the community, improvement of shared facilities and equipment, or as a subsidy for property fees.
How to manage this account well will test the wisdom of community-level governance.
In this regard, active exploration has been carried out in various places.
In July 2019, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province issued a pilot work plan for the publicity of property operating income and expenditure information, requiring owners' committees and property service companies to enter the monthly property operating income and expenditure items, amounts, summaries, etc. The information platform of the bureau, after the owner has been authenticated by the real name, he can check the operating income and expenditure of the property management area where he is located through the information platform.
At the same time, Hangzhou has made it clear in the relevant working system of the owners' committee (trial) that in principle, more than 50% of the property operating income should be used for the maintenance, update, renovation of the public parts of the property and shared equipment, or to supplement the special maintenance fund for the property.
Since then, many places have also guided owners to invest operating income in community facility maintenance when formulating relevant regulations.
In September of this year, the Fujian Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development, together with multiple departments, issued the Measures for the Administration of Public Revenues of Residential Areas (for Trial Implementation), which stipulated that during the pre-property service period, property service companies can agree on the operation and management of the common part of the residential area in accordance with the Preliminary Property Service Contract The operation and management expenses of the property service enterprise shall not exceed 30% of the public revenue.
After the establishment of the owners' meeting, upon the decision of the owners' meeting, the public revenue from the owner's committee's account can be used for public expenses such as maintenance and renovation, renovation of the common part of the residential community, and the working expenses of the owner's committee, and can also be used to deduct the owner's property service fees, water and electricity. Expenses for shared expenses and other matters decided by the owners' meeting.
A month later, the Jiangxi Provincial Department of Housing and Urban-Rural Development formulated the guidelines for the owners' meeting and the owners' committee (for trial implementation), stipulating that part of the profits shared by the owners should be used to supplement the maintenance funds of the building and its ancillary facilities.
The common part of the income of the owners should be listed separately.
The owners' meeting shall establish a joint capital account of the owners, and the joint capital account shall be managed by the owners' committee.
There are still some places to explore the establishment of co-management accounts, standardize the procedures for storage and use, and make the public benefits of the community more transparent.
In September of this year, the "Hefei City Residential Community Property Management Regulations (Draft for Comment)" announced by the Hefei Municipal People's Government Office of Anhui Province intends to stipulate that the public income of residential quarters should be separately accounted for and subject to the supervision of the owners.
Before the establishment of the owners' meeting, the property service enterprise shall set up a public revenue joint management account with the township and town people's governments and sub-district offices; Income joint account.
In Qin Liangping's view, a joint management account is set up, listed separately, and the property is operated and managed. The corresponding income is directly entered into the joint management account. After deducting the corresponding reasonable management costs, the profits are distributed according to the agreed proportion.
This move can not only stimulate the initiative of the property management company, but also supervise its income and use well, and also help to protect the common rights and interests of the owners, which can achieve a win-win situation.
Qin Liangping reminded that as the service life of the community increases, the supporting facilities of the community will continue to age, and the owners will also generate new needs, but the maintenance funds are limited, so it is a more scientific way to supplement the maintenance funds through public benefits.
Article 54 of the Property Management Regulations also stipulates that public revenue should be mainly used to supplement special maintenance funds, and may also be used in accordance with the decision of the owners' meeting.
Under the premise of sufficient funds for community maintenance, within the scope authorized by the owners' meeting, the use of public benefits to share benefits such as red envelopes or daily necessities to owners can also improve the enthusiasm of owners and the governance efficiency of the community to a certain extent.
In order to better solve the problem of public revenue supervision in the community, Qin Liangping suggested that various new supervision methods can be explored in various places, such as the contract system, where the public operating revenue of the community is packaged to the property company as a whole, and the fixed revenue is paid to the owner. , it is responsible for its own profits and losses; or a commission system, the property company organizes investment and operation, and the owner pays a service fee to the property company according to a certain percentage of operating income, and the remaining income after deducting reasonable costs belongs to the owner.
"Sunshine is the best antiseptic. Only open and transparent community public affairs can be truly supervised. Whether it is managed by the property company, or managed by the owner's committee, or jointly managed by the property company and the owner's committee, it should be regularly regulated in accordance with the law. Actively publicize the details of income and expenditure, and accept the supervision of the owner." Qin Liangping said that from the perspective of the owner, it is also necessary to enhance the awareness of public benefit rights, strengthen the study of relevant legal knowledge, and protect their own rights and interests in accordance with the law.
According to Yan Yuejin, research director of the Think Tank Center of the E-House Research Institute, the public benefits of the community not only involve the standardization and disclosure of accounts, but also the improvement of supervision and rule systems.
To solve these problems, it is necessary to provide stronger legal support for the establishment of the property committee, allow government departments to take a more active role, and the property company to perform more mandatory obligations during the establishment of the property committee; The management rules of community public benefits are more refined. For example, government departments uniformly formulate public benefit disclosure forms, conduct regular random inspections of community public benefits disclosure, and impose severe penalties on acts of concealing or tampering with data or embezzling the interests of owners; In addition, efforts can also be made in the way of publicity, such as the use of new media platforms such as WeChat public accounts to classify the public benefits of the community and publish them regularly by fixed personnel to protect the owners' right to know.
"Only by further improving the laws and regulations, continuously refining the establishment of business committees, public revenue management, and punishment of violations, and continuously increasing the support for business committees and the supervision of property companies, can a more balanced community be formed. It truly defends the legitimate rights and interests of owners, and promotes grassroots governance of co-governance, co-construction and sharing." Yan Yuejin said.
Rule of Law Daily