Chinese cities encouraging equal rights for homeowners, renters

China 24

Chinese cities encouraging equal rights for homeowners, renters

Chinese authorities have implemented a slew of new regulations to slow the rising cost of housing.

The latest push: giving equal rights to homeowners and tenants.

CGTN’s Michael Butterworth reports from Beijing.

Beijing is among the first cities to take advantage of the policy, with authorities soliciting public opinion on a draft house-rental policy aimed at protecting the rights of tenants.

According to the draft, the city’s government will develop more professional property-rental agencies, and all newly-developed rental houses should be located in populated areas within a 15 minute walk of healthcare services.

The draft also guarantees the education rights of tenants’ children.

Non-Beijing residents can apply for their children to receive compulsory education in the district where they are renting. Children of Beijing residents who do not own houses are allowed to be enrolled in their neighborhood school districts, but the children need to have lived in the home and one of their parents needs to have worked in the area for at least three years.

These regulations come as the government makes stabilizing the property market one of its top priorities.

“We encourage property rental agencies to create rental contracts that last no less than three years, so that renters will have a stable home, diminishing the need to buy a house,” Zhao Xiuchi, president of Beijing Real Estate Law Society said. “That will also help to solve the housing problems in big cities like Beijing.”

Last month, Chinese authorities issued a document urging big cities with net population inflows to accelerate the development of the rental market.