RENTING SCAM SURGE：
TENTANTS' VOICES

Chaos in the Rental Market: Tenants Face Uphill Battle in Defending Their Rights

 

As urbanization accelerates and the urban population continues to grow, an increasing number of new citizens and young people in first-tier and new first-tier cities, due to factors such as their ability to purchase homes, job stability, personal intention to stay, and willingness to invest in property, opt to solve their housing issues by "renting". According to data from the "2023 Blue Book on the Development of China's Long-term Rental Market", the current rental population in China is nearly 260 million. As long-term renting becomes the norm for urban living, the housing consumption concepts of new citizens and young people are also undergoing subtle changes. More young people are choosing to satisfy their need for a "home" by renting instead of buying, leading to a growing demand in the rental market.

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However, with the continued prosperity of the market, rental scams have also surged, causing economic losses of billions of yuan annually due to fraudulent practices such as false listing information, exorbitant rents, illegal fees, and contractual traps, severely infringing upon the legitimate rights and interests of tenants. Meanwhile, due to the unique nature of online platforms, consumers often face difficulties in providing evidence and have nowhere to turn for complaints after being scammed, a phenomenon that has become a widely concerned focus in all sectors of society.

 

Tenant Voices: Rental Traps Abound, and the Road to Defending Rights is Long and Arduous

 

Around 6 p.m. on April 16, 2024, Wang Weiwei, who had just finished work, unexpectedly received a notice of eviction from the Huangdu Chuncheng Meihaojiayuan community in Jiading District, informing her that the house she was renting was actually an affordable housing unit and was illegally rented out, and she was required to move out within a short period. Faced with this sudden change, Wang immediately contacted the landlord for an explanation but only received a vague reply, "Don't worry, keep living here, I'll take care of it." Considering the need not to affect her daily work, Wang chose to temporarily trust the landlord. However, a week later, the landlord's attitude changed abruptly, demanding that she move out immediately and only offering the option of moving to another place for a one-month transition. Wang reluctantly moved out and negotiated for compensation, but the landlord evaded responsibility and refused to fulfill the previously promised compensation agreement. "When I moved out, he promised to refund my prepaid rent and deposit, and also compensate me for half a month's rent, but when I finished moving and handed over the house, he started to evade and refused to pay the compensation," Wang said angrily.

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"I first found this rental information when I searched for addresses on Gaode Maps. There was a phone number directly on it, so I contacted them. I didn't expect it to be an illegal rental," Wang's experience is not unique. Corporate white-collar worker Su Mingshan encountered false listings multiple times during her house-hunting process. "The house was in a remote location, and the room layout and environment were completely different from the pictures on the website. I felt like I was tricked into going there and wasted my time." Corporate white-collar worker Li Siqi needed to change her rental due to a job transfer. "We agreed to refund the deposit at the time, but when I tried to contact them again later, the phone was disconnected, and I didn't get my money back." Media worker Xu Peng had to pretend to be a journalist and threaten to "expose" the landlord's behavior to get back his rental deposit. According to industry reports, in first-tier cities like Shanghai, disputes arising from landlords refusing to return deposits and secondhand landlords maliciously breaching contracts amount to tens of thousands of cases annually, yet only a few tenants actually defend their rights through legal channels.

 

Real Estate Agent's Perspective: Proliferation of Platforms and Malicious Competition Spawn Market Disorders

 

As the evening falls, You Yingying, a real estate agent at Baiyuan Real Estate, bids farewell to the last group of house hunters and begins preparing the lease and sale contracts for the next day. With 15 years of experience in the real estate industry, she laments, "In recent years, online rental platforms have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, such as Dafangya, which attract agents by offering low platform fees before increasing the commission rate later. Many agents serve multiple platforms simultaneously, putting tremendous pressure on them. Some agents even resort to using fake listings to lock in clients. What's more worrying is that some platforms, in a bid to attract traffic, have lax verification of agent qualifications, allowing anyone to join as long as they pay the fee." You adds that currently, properties managed by sublettors account for as much as 70% of the market, with direct rentals from landlords being relatively rare. The agency she previously worked for often encountered situations where sublettors went missing, leaving tenants to seek help from the agency, only to find their pleas falling on deaf ears, making it difficult to hold anyone accountable.

 

Despite the introduction of a series of laws and regulations on housing leasing in China, there are still gaps and loopholes in the supervision of online real estate agency platforms. This results in consumers lacking adequate legal support when defending their rights, often feeling helpless and confused. Furthermore, with the rapid development of network technology, existing laws and regulations are struggling to keep pace with the demands of real estate agency platforms. The lag and gaps in regulation provide opportunities for unscrupulous individuals, further exacerbating market disorder.

 

 

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Lawyer's Interpretation: Regulatory Loopholes Make Consumer Rights Protection Difficult

 

Yang Yun, a senior partner at Shanghai Daopeng Law Firm, has delved into and successfully resolved dozens of complex and diverse housing leasing dispute cases throughout his illustrious career. With this invaluable professional experience, Yang Yun has not only accumulated in-depth expertise but also gained profound and unique insights into the numerous issues plaguing the current housing leasing market. He summarizes, "Among the factors giving rise to disputes, the lax verification mechanisms of platforms are undoubtedly a critical issue that urgently needs addressing. Additionally, the regulatory system also has noticeable loopholes, currently relying heavily on self-regulation within the industry and proactive complaints from consumers, making this regulatory model rather passive. Especially for online rental platforms that have flourished in recent years, the regulatory efforts are particularly weak and inadequate. The existing legal and regulatory framework often lags behind the rapid expansion and technological innovation of these emerging platforms, leaving regulatory gaps in many areas."

 

Yang Yun further points out, "In practice, due to the complex evidence-gathering process involved in housing leasing disputes, the relatively limited legal awareness of tenant groups, and the significant economic losses that may arise from disputes, these factors combined often lead many victims to ultimately choose to abandon pursuing their legitimate rights and interests through legal channels, undoubtedly exacerbating the severity of the issue." He emphasizes that, in terms of the distribution of case types, the majority of housing leasing disputes concentrate in the commercial real estate sector, such as factories and office buildings, where rent levels are relatively high and contract terms are more complex. In contrast, disputes concerning ordinary residential property rentals are relatively rare.

 

The survey reveals that rental traps in the housing leasing market have become a significant issue affecting consumer rights, particularly with the urgent need to strengthen the supervision of online real estate agency platforms. It is hoped that by reinforcing platform verification responsibilities, improving relevant laws, regulations, and regulatory systems, broadening rights protection channels, and increasing supervision and punishment efforts, rental fraud can be effectively curbed, tenants' legitimate rights and interests can be safeguarded, and every house in the city can become a stable and warm haven for tenants.