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City mulls measures to curb rent hikes

Writer:   | Editor: Lily A  | From:  | Updated: 2018-08-30

In response to a proposal aimed at stemming irrational rise of rents, the city’s urban planning, land and resources commission said it will, through a series of measures, strictly prevent rent hikes under the excuse of renovation of urban villages and unified leasing, the Shenzhen Economic Daily reported yesterday.

The proposal, submitted by seven political advisers earlier this year at the fourth plenary session of the sixth municipal political consultative conference, put forward suggestions on improving the supporting facilities in urban villages, curbing the irrational raising of rents and prohibiting housing agencies from driving up rents.

Based on a census of buildings and housing estates conducted in 2015, it is estimated that 80 percent of the city’s population dwell in rental housing, which accounts for 73.5 percent of the total housing in Shenzhen. Meanwhile, 61.3 percent of the rental housing consists of ill-equipped apartments in urban villages, the Daily said.

According to the proposal, as housing rental costs are relatively high in Shenzhen, migrant workers often opt for apartments in urban villages with inadequate supporting public facilities. Therefore, it calls for better public facilities in urban villages to provide safe and clean living conditions for migrant workers.

In the reply, the commission said it will step up efforts in the comprehensive regulation and unified leasing of urban villages. Priority will be placed on improving the supporting public facilities and public space in urban villages, as well as gradually establishing and improving the rent supervision system in urban villages.

Meanwhile, the commission emphasized that enterprises should reasonably control the standards and costs of the renovation of urban villages, which should be in line with the actual needs of the society and the tenants.

The commission further disclosed that through a number of interviews with relevant enterprises it had formulated measures in terms of legislation, rent supervision, and the exploration of a stable-rent commercial residential housing system to rein in the annual rent increases in housing.

The commission will strengthen the supervision of the rental market and curb irregularities, such as illegal agents and arbitrarily rising rents, in order to create a fair and orderly market environment for standardized house leasing. (Zhang Yu)