Related News
Xuhui government plays broker to curb nuisance of group rentals
Print Edition
APARTMENT owners in Xuhui District can now strike a deal with the district government for tenants.
Xuhui government is offering five-year contracts to landlords at market prices and then rents out the apartments to others. The government claims its purpose to play a real estate broker is to curb group rentals as they pose risks to both tenants and home owners. With the property in their hands, they will be able to manage them better.
The government has already started renting apartments in two new neighborhoods in the district.
Tenants, without the consent of landlords, divide the apartments into tiny units and sublet them. In many cases, landlords have been forced to take legal measures to terminate the contract.
Huizhong Public Rental, a state-owned agency for public housing projects which is running the program for the district government, said it makes trips to the rented properties every month to ensure that no one sublets them.
“We have signed contracts with 88 landlords in three neighborhoods since June last year,” Zhou Xiang, director of the company’s rental unit, told Shanghai Daily yesterday. The apartments are in Huaqin, Huabin and Huayue neighborhoods in the Caohejing area.
“In these three neighborhoods about one-third of the 4,700 apartments are for rent, most of them end up as group rentals,” Zhou said.
He said his company pays the landlords about 3,200 yuan (US$502) per month for an unfurnished two-bedroom apartment, and they rent out the apartment with basic amenities for 4,500 to 4,800 yuan a month — slightly cheaper than the market average.
Zhou’s state-owned agency faces competition from private-owned competitors. But making it imperative for landlords to sign a five-year contract has deterred some of them.
The agency stopped offering two-year and three-year contracts with the landlords at the beginning of this year, and since then the average number of landlords signing contracts with it has dropped from 10 to 2 on an average every month.
“We had to stop the short-term offer as we were losing money considering the investment we make to furnish and maintain the apartments,” Zhou said.
On the other hand, the interest from tenants has been overwhelming. Among them are companies looking to provide decent housing for their young staff as part of their welfare package.
Zhou said the companies prefer his agency because the rentals are cheaper than the others. “After all we’re a government agency. They believe it is less likely that there will be any breach of contracts. We also provide invoices to the clients,” he said.
Zhou explained that the properties his company manages are not exclusively meant for low-income citizens like in other public housing projects.
“We would lose money if we do not rent out the apartments as soon as possible,” he said.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
