Decision on Amending the Several Provisions of House Lease Administration in Beijing Municipality by the People's Government of Beijing Municipality

Order of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality

No. 231

The Decision on Amending the Several Provisions of House Lease Administration in Beijing Municipality by the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, adopted at the 74th Executive Meeting of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality on September 14, 2010, is hereby promulgated and shall come into force on the date of issuance.

Mayor: Guo Jinlong

May 5, 2011

The People's Government of Beijing Municipality makes the decision to amend the Several Provisions of Beijing Municipality on House Lease Administration as follows:

1. Article 2 is amended to read: "The lease of houses within the administrative areas of Beijing Municipality shall be administered in accordance with these Provisions."

2. An article is added as Article 7: "In the event of house lease, the lessor and the lessee shall sign a house lease contract according to law. The contract shall include the basic conditions of the house, rent, lease term, lease use, liability for breach of contract, etc."

“Within the house lease period, the lessor may not shorten the lease period or increase the rent without the consent of the lessee."

"The municipal construction (housing) administrative departments shall, together with the municipal administrative departments for industry and commerce, formulate a model house lease contract template and publish it to the public."

3. An article is added as Article 8: "Where the lessor intends to sell the leased house, it shall notify the lessee within a reasonable period before the sale, and the lessee shall have the right to buy the house with priority on the same conditions."

"Any change in ownership of the house due to sale, inheritance, gift giving, etc. during the lease term shall not affect the validity of the lease contract."

4. An article is added as Article 9: "This Municipality encourages and supports the lessor and the lessee to sign a long-term residential lease contract, establishing a stable lease relationship."

"In case of abnormal changes such as large fluctuations in rental price of the rental market in a short period of time, the People's Government of Beijing Municipality may authorize the municipal administrative departments for development & reform, construction (housing), etc. to take necessary temporary intervention measures to stabilize the rental market."

5. An article is added as Article 10: "The municipal, district or county people's governments shall formulate plans to provide low-rent houses and public rental houses by means of construction, acquisition, etc."

"This Municipality encourages enterprises and individuals to invest in the construction of public rental houses."

6. Article 7 is deleted.

7. Article 8 is changed to Article 11 and a paragraph is added as paragraph (1): "Where a leased house is used for living purposes, it shall be registered for lease."

8. Article 10 is changed to Article 13 and amended to read: "When engaging in house lease intermediary activities, the real estate brokerage institution shall notify lease parties, in writing, to go through the house lease registration formalities with the Grassroots Administration and Service Station where the house is located; if offering agency services of house lease, the real estate brokerage institution shall go through the registration, modification and cancellation formalities in accordance with Article 11 and paragraph (1) of Article 12 of these Provisions, or fill in the relevant information through the online record system of the house lease contract according to the provisions of the municipal administrative departments for construction (housing)."

9. Article 11 is changed to Article 14, and the Item (4) "handling of marriage and childbirth certificates for temporary migrant population" in paragraph (1) is deleted.

Paragraph (2) is deleted.

10. An article is added as Article 15: "The Grassroots Administration and Service Station shall not charge any fees for the registration of leases and the provision of services to the parties concerned. The Grassroots Administration and Service Station shall not engage or engage in disguise in the business activities."

11. Article 12 is changed to Article 16, and paragraph (2) is amended to read: "Where a house owner entrusts another person to administer the house registered for rent, he/she shall report in writing to the Grassroots Administration and Service Station for the Mass of the place where the house is located."

12. Article 14 is changed to Article 18, and paragraph (2) is deleted.

13. Article 15 is changed to Article 19, and amended to read: "The lessee shall cooperate with the lessor in the registration of the house lease; shall not alter the house planning and design purposes, or use the leased house for the illegal production, processing storage or business in explosive, toxic, radioactive and corrosive substances or pathogens of infectious diseases or other dangerous substances; or other illegal activities; or harm public interests or disturb the normal work and life of others."

14. An article is added as Article 20: "The per capita living area of the leased house shall not be lower than the standard set by this Municipality. The specific standard shall be formulated by the municipal administrative departments for construction (housing) in conjunction with the administrative departments for public security, planning, health, etc."

"It is not allowed to rent the kitchen, toilet, balcony and underground storeroom as bedrooms for personnel to live in."

15. An article is added as Article 21: "Where the house is wholly leased, more than 10 rooms are leased or more than 15 people live in the leased house, the lessor shall establish a corresponding management system, clarify special management personnel, and set up security precautions such as monitoring and fire extinguishing, fire-fighting equipment and facilities as well as safe passages, and establish an information register or a registration system."

"Where a unit leases a house as a collective dormitory for its employees to live in, the unit shall perform safety management duties in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph."

"The public security organ shall uniformly print registers of multiple occupants of leased house for the lessor to obtain free of charge."

16. One article is added as Article 24: "Where administrative departments for public security, industrial and commercial administration, civil defense, health, culture, press and publication, education, etc. handle the procedures of relevant administrative license, they shall examine the activity place according to law, examine whether the use of the leased house conforms to the purpose of planning and design, and whether it conforms to the provisions of laws, regulations and rules on the activity place; in the case of non-conformity, no relevant administrative license shall be given."

17. Article 18 is changed to Article 25, and paragraph (1) is amended to read: "An institution engaged in house lease brokerage business shall be established according to law, obtain a business license, meet the requirements stipulated by the state and this Municipality, and shall, within 30 days from the date of establishment, submit information such as the basic information of the institution and the employees to the construction (housing) administrative departments of the district or county where the institution is located."

18. Article 20 is changed to Article 27, and the terms "lend and rent" in item (4) are changed to "lease."

An item is added as item (7): "Engaging in any other business activities other than intermediary or agency business in violation of relevant regulations is not allowed."

19. An article is added as Article 28: "The administrative departments for construction (housing) shall establish a housing lease market information system to provide units and individuals housing lease market information as well as credit and activity history of real estate brokerage institutions."

20. Article 22 is changed to Article 30, and paragraph (1) is amended to read: "The administrative departments for public security, construction (housing), industrial and commercial administration, civil defense, health, population and family planning, planning, culture, education, taxation and comprehensive law enforcement in urban administration shall establish the responsibility system for law enforcement and fulfill the supervision and inspection of responsibility of housing lease administration. Where any illegal act that should not be investigated and handled by this department is found during law enforcement, the department shall promptly inform the administrative department of the rental housing at the same level, which shall promptly inform the relevant administrative department to investigate and deal with according to law."

21. Article 25 is deleted.

22. Article 28 is changed to Article 35, and "Article 8 and Article 9" in item (1) are changed to "Article 11 and Article 12".

“Article 13” in Item (2) is changed to "Article 17".

"Paragraph (1) of Article 14" in item (3) is changed to "paragraph (1) of Article 18".

Item (4) is deleted.

Item (5) is changed to item (4), where "Article 15" is changed to "Article 19".

An item is added as item (5): "Where the provisions of paragraphs (1) and (2) of Article 21 are violated, and the lessor or unit fails to fulfill its responsibility for safety management, it shall be ordered to make corrections and may be fined no less than 10,000 but no more than CNY ¥30,000. Where serious consequences are caused, a fine no less than CNY ¥30,000 but not more than CNY ¥100,000 shall be imposed."

23. Article 29 is changed to Article 36, and amended to read: "For the following acts that violate these Provisions, the administrative departments for construction (housing) shall give the punishment as follows."

"(1) Where, in violation of Article 17 of these Provisions, the leased house has hidden safety risks, an order shall be given to make corrections and a fine of no less than CNY ¥1,000 but no more than CNY ¥30,000 may be imposed."

"(2) Where, in violation of Article 20 of these Provisions, the lessor who violates the restrictions on the leased house shall be ordered to make corrections. In case the consequences are serious, the lessor may be imposed a fine of no less than CNY ¥5,000 but no more than CNY ¥30,000. Where a real estate brokerage institution and its brokerage personnel engage in house lease brokerage business in violation of the restrictions on the leased house, they shall be ordered to make corrections and be imposed a fine of no less than CNY ¥30,000 but no more than CNY ¥100,000."

"(3) Where, in violation of paragraph (1) of Article 25 of these Provisions, a real estate brokerage institution fails to submit relevant information as required, it shall be ordered to make corrections and may be imposed a fine of no less than CNY ¥10,000 but no more than CNY ¥30,000."

"(4) Where, in violation of Article 26 of these Provisions, a real estate brokerage institution fails to implement the fund supervision system, it shall be ordered to make corrections and be imposed a fine of no less than CNY ¥10,000 but no more than CNY ¥30,000."

"(5) Where a real estate brokerage institution and its brokerage personnel engaging in house lease brokerage business, contrary to Item (2), Item (3) and Item (6) of Article 27, or contrary to Item (4) of Article 27, leases a qualification certificate of real estate brokerage, they shall be ordered to make corrections and be imposed a fine of not less than CNY ¥10,000 but not more than CNY ¥30,000."

24. One article is added as Article 37: “In case of the following acts contrary to these Provisions, the administrative departments for industry and commerce shall give the punishment as follows.

"(1) Where, contrary to paragraph (2) of Article 25 of these Provisions, a real estate brokerage institution employs persons without real estate brokerage qualification certificate to engage in house lease brokerage activities, it shall be imposed a fine of not less than CNY ¥10,000 but not more than CNY ¥30,000;"

"(2) Where, contrary to item (1) and item (5) of Article 27 of these Provisions, a real estate brokerage institution operates in an illegal way, it shall be ordered to make corrections and be imposed a fine of not less than CNY ¥10,000 but not more than CNY ¥30,000;"

"(3) Where, in violation of item (7) of Article 27 of these Provisions, a real estate brokerage institution engages in any other business activities other than intermediary or agency business in violation of relevant regulations, a punishment shall be imposed in accordance with the relevant provisions on registration administration."

25. Article 30 is changed to Article 38, where “Article 13” is changed to “Article 17”.

26. An article is added as Article 39: "Where a dispute arises between the lessor and the lessee in the house lease activity, it shall be resolved through consultation. Where consultation fails, the lessor or lessee may apply for mediation from the People's Mediation Committee, the Beijing Real Estate Agency Association, the administrative departments for construction (housing) or other relevant units, or may apply for arbitration or file a lawsuit according to law."

This Decision shall take effect as of the date of issue. The Several Provisions of Beijing Municipality on House Lease Administration, issued on November 3, 2007 under the Order No. 194 of the People's Government of Beijing Municipality, shall be re-promulgated after making corresponding amendments and adjusting the order of articles in accordance with this Decision.

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(All information in this document is authentic in Chinese. English is provided for reference only. In case of any discrepancy, the Chinese version shall prevail.)