On August 24th, Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the Housing Lease Regulations (Draft for Comment) (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations) for public comments.
As the first local version of the Housing Lease Regulations in China, the Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development pointed out that in recent years, new formats and models of "leasing Internet finance" such as long-term rental of apartments, rental loans and short-term rental have emerged, and the mismatch between the level and content of existing legal documents and actual needs has become increasingly prominent. It is urgent to strengthen the top-level design of housing lease in Beijing through local legislation and improve the housing lease management system. The promulgation of the regulations is not only a measure to implement the "live without speculation" of the CPC Central Committee.
Among them, the Opinion Draft puts forward a series of requirements for protecting the personal information of the lessee, standardizes the release of online housing, and strengthens the supervision of new rental market formats such as long-term rental apartments, rental loans, houses in short rent, and group rental. At the same time, a rent monitoring and publishing mechanism has been established to make it clear that excessive rent will be supervised.
(Screenshot source: official website, Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development)
Strictly control the release of online listings and protect personal information.
Article 8 1 of Chapter VI of the Regulations includes general provisions, leasing and leasing, leasing services, cultivation and development, legal responsibilities and supplementary provisions. Generally speaking, the regulations clearly state that Beijing adheres to the orientation of "housing without speculation", establishes and improves the housing system with both rent and purchase, and supports residents to solve housing problems and improve their living conditions through leasing.
In terms of renting, the "Regulations" clarify the rules that should be observed in renting houses and the circumstances that cannot be rented for living; Clarify the rights and obligations of renting and renting; Standardize the collection of rent deposit; Strengthen housing management in short rent; Advocate lease insurance and establish a dispute settlement mechanism.
Among them, the "Regulations" clarify that within the term of the housing lease contract, the lessor shall not enter the leased housing without the consent of the lessee. Shall not illegally buy, sell, provide or disclose the personal information of the lessee.
In terms of rental services, the regulations intend to strengthen the management and supervision of housing rental services. First, set access conditions for housing leasing enterprises and real estate brokers. The second is to strengthen corporate behavior supervision, including standardizing information publicity and housing release, controlling the fund pool, and implementing contract online signing. The third is to strengthen the information verification responsibility of the network platform.
Among them, the "Regulations" require that the Internet information publishing platform should review and register the true and valid identities of units and individuals who apply to enter the platform to publish, display and promote lease information, establish files, regularly verify and update, and keep the collected user information strictly confidential.
Yan Yuejin, research director of the think tank center of Yiju Research Institute, pointed out that there are many expressions similar to the Personal Information Protection Law in the relevant provisions of the regulations, which further embodies the information protection concept of the new rental market and is also the essential difference between the old and new rental markets. In the past, there was a lack of personal information protection in the protection of tenants' rights and interests, but this lease regulation clearly mentioned it.
In addition, in terms of protecting the rights and interests of the lessee, the Regulations also propose that the amount of the deposit charged by the housing leasing enterprise from the lessee shall not exceed 1 month rent, and it shall be managed through a special account of a third party according to regulations. The lessor shall not force the lessee to return the leased house or bear the expenses outside the contract by means of violence, threats, water and electricity cuts, etc.
Strengthen the supervision of new housing leasing formats
The Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development pointed out that in recent years, new formats and models of "leasing Internet finance" such as long-term rental of apartments, rental loans and short-term rental have emerged, and the mismatch between the level and content of existing legal documents and actual needs has become increasingly prominent.
In view of the lightning explosion of long-term rental apartments in recent years, the "Regulations" propose that the amount of single rent charged by housing leasing enterprises to tenants should generally not exceed the sum of three months' rent; That's it. Rent should be regulated.
In view of the potential safety hazards of rented houses in recent years, the regulations state that if the rented houses and their ancillary facilities endanger the safety or health of the lessee, even if the lessee knows that the quality of the houses or their ancillary facilities is unqualified when concluding the contract, the lessee can still terminate the lease contract at any time. At the same time, if the lessor fails to perform the maintenance obligations within the term of the house lease contract, the lessee can carry out the maintenance by himself, and the maintenance expenses shall be borne by the lessor. If the maintenance affects the lessee's use, the lessor shall reduce the rent or extend the lease term accordingly.
In terms of the norms of lease loans, the Regulations propose that financial institutions should issue lease loans based on the recorded housing lease contracts. The loan amount should not be higher than the housing lease contract amount, and the loan term should not exceed the housing lease contract period. The frequency of issuing loans should match the frequency of borrowers paying rent, and lease loans can only be credited to borrowers' accounts.
In view of the problem of group rent, the "Regulations" stipulate that rental houses are not rented according to the number of units and rooms planned and designed; Rental housing does not meet the provisions of the city's per capita use area and the number of people living in each room; If the living room, kitchen, bathroom, balcony and storage room of the house are rented out separately for living, the competent department of housing and urban construction shall give a warning, order it to make corrections and impose a fine.
In view of the short rent issue, the regulations also clarify that renting houses on state-owned land in this city, which charges by the day or by the hour, shall comply with the management regulations of this community. If there is no management agreement, it shall obtain the unanimous consent of other owners of this building.
Yan Yuejin said that in the past, short rent's behavior was outside the supervision, which had an impact on the security and management of the community. It can be seen that Beijing's regulations are very pragmatic in actively controlling new leasing formats.
Establish a rent monitoring and publishing mechanism
In the field of fostering development, the regulations intend to encourage housing leasing, promote the empowerment of tenants, encourage the use of collective construction land and existing non-residential land to build rental housing, encourage the use of idle non-residential land to rebuild rental housing, and give relevant supporting policies. Establish rent control and credit management mechanisms.
Among them, the "Regulations" propose that Beijing encourages the use of existing non-residential land to build rental housing according to regulations. Encourage offices, businesses, hotels, factories, warehouses and other inefficient idle non-residential buildings to be converted into rental housing according to regulations. In accordance with the provisions of the use of non-residential stock land to build rental housing, or the stock of non-residential housing into rental housing, into the housing rental management service platform, water, electricity, gas, heating prices to implement the living standards of residents.
At present, many places encourage the use of existing non-residential land to build rental housing or affordable housing. It is generally believed that the use of existing land for development is not only to revitalize some existing land, but also to avoid the dilemma that new rental houses and affordable housing in big cities have to be far away from urban areas to find land.
The "Regulations" also proposed that Beijing should establish a rent monitoring and release mechanism. When the housing rent rises rapidly, the competent department of housing and urban and rural construction can take measures such as limiting the increase in housing rent operated by housing leasing enterprises and investigating rent-seeking behavior to regulate the housing rental market. If necessary, commission or rental guidance price can be implemented.
It is worth noting that this "Regulation" is a document that once again refers to the rental guidance price after the "Regulations on Social Construction of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone (Draft for Comment)" issued on July 30.
Yan Yuejin believes that the expression of the rental guidance price in the regulations is worthy of attention, which reflects Beijing's guidance on the implementation of the rental market. Considering that Shenzhen has mentioned the reference price of rental housing before, it is expected that with the development of the rental market, the future rental guidance price or reference price system will gradually take shape and become an important supporting policy to stabilize the rental market.