Beating the Landlord: New Rental Policies Tip in Favor of Tenants' Interests

Beijing is not a cheap city to live in, especially when it comes to rent prices. It always costs an arm, a leg, and a bowl of tears when you hand over all the money from a month of hard work to follow the more or less standard policy of paying your rent in three-month increments, leading tenants to question each quarter whether or not it’s time to find a new place. Good news, though: Things are about to change.

The Beijing Municipal Commission of Housing and Urban-Rural Development announced a new policy, implemented on Oct 31, stating that the government will launch an online platform to collect the data of landlords and renters, show availabilities, monitor the rental market, and allow renters and landlords to rate each other.

As for the landlords, they are forbidden from changing their property's original layout or dividing the space into more rooms to rent. Kitchens, bathrooms, and balconies cannot be rented out as bedrooms, and a minimum per-capita living space was set for 5sqm.

Tenants who don’t have Beijing hukou will be able to register on the platform and then apply for the zanzhuzheng, or a temporary residence permit. Tenants who have signed a contract for over three years will supposedly receive support from the government in implementing it. The minimum length of contract should be at least three years if the place is rented to a company.  

The policy is tilting in favor of tenants: Landlords are now forbidden to raise the rent within the duration of the contract and are encouraged to collect rent monthly, instead of in three-month blocks. Landlords are also now encouraged to return the deposit within three days of the contract's end. They are forbidden from evicting tenants using threats, as well as from entering the house without tenants’ permission. If the landlord wants to sell the apartment, the current tenant will have priority in buying it, and tenants cannot sublease the space without the landlord’s permission.

Of course, the efficacy of these new measures all depends on enforcement so for now, we'll just have to wait and see what comes.

More stories by this author here.

Email: tracywang@thebeijinger.com
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Photos: sevacall