Letting firm fined over group rental
Print Edition
A LETTING agency in the Pudong New Area has been fined 30,000 yuan (US$4,850) for leasing a property as a group rental, authorities said yesterday.
The firm, which is based in the town of Zhangjiang, subdivided a 111-square-meter apartment into two units and rented them to different tenants, the Pudong Construction and Transport Commission said.
The fine, which was the largest ever handed down for such an offense, reflected the fact that the company — which was not identified — had a history of renting out subdivided properties and had already been told to end the practice, it said.
An official from the commission said half of all the group rentals in Pudong are in Zhangjiang due to its high concentration of migrant workers.
“Group rentals are so lucrative that often people will rent a property from an agency just so they can subdivide and sublet it,” the unnamed official said.
Many of the people involved are from Shandong, Jiangsu, Henan and Fujian provinces who come to Shanghai for the sole purpose of organizing group lets, he said.
Despite repeated efforts by the government to crack down on group renting, the practice remains rampant.
In the past year, more than 9,400 apartments in Pudong have been identified as being group rentals and their owners instructed to rectify the situation. Most landlords have cooperated with the committee, but several have refused, the official said.
“Those that refuse to collaborate will be fined,” he said.
The government’s main objection to group rentals is that the conversions often make the properties unsafe.
In May, two firefighters were killed after being thrown from a 13th-story apartment by a blast that happened as they were tackling a blaze in the unit.
The flat in Xuhui District had been rented to a group of tenants and was packed with electrical appliances, one of which was blamed for causing the initial fire, reports said.
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