The elevator is broken and nobody repairs it, the illegal building is left unattended, and the fire escape is occupied … In daily life, people often worry because the property problems in the community cannot be effectively solved. In order to get through the "blocking point", the regulations on property management in many places across the country have recently been promulgated, revised or solicited.
Local legislation provides a strong guarantee for standardizing property management and provides a good prescription for the rule of law to solve the "stubborn disease" of property. At the same time, property management is not only related to the interior of the community, but also the embodiment of mass autonomy and the important content of social governance. All sectors of society should make joint efforts and be more understanding and tolerant when solving problems.
Property disputes are varied.
"since the establishment of the industry Committee, the community has changed!" Chen Hansong, deputy director of the Industry Committee of Wangjing Lize Xiyuan District, Chaoyang District, Beijing, told reporters. She frowned when talking about the days before. "There is a problem inside the old property company, and the service is getting worse and worse. Owners are not satisfied with this, so they don’t pay property fees, so a vicious circle begins. At first, they provided some services, but later they did nothing and never quit. The aging of facilities and equipment such as elevators and pipelines in the community, garbage littering and public security problems have followed. "
In August 2016, with the assistance of the street office and the community, the first district of Wangjing Lize Xiyuan overcame many difficulties and established an industry committee. Owners have the opportunity to re-select property companies. "Now people in the community not only clean up the garbage, do greening, but also replace the old public facilities and install electronic monitoring. We are discussing how to manage the vehicles in the community. As long as everyone works hard together, the future of the community will be better! " Chen Hansong said.
In fact, not all communities have industry committees. The difficulty in establishing the industry committee and the low coverage rate is one of the shortcomings that restrict the improvement of China’s property management level. Taking Beijing as an example, the data shows that there are 10,213 residential quarters in Beijing, of which only 1,216 have established industry committees.
How to use special maintenance funds? How to divide the parking garage? Who will take care of such situations as pulling wires privately, making noise, illegally raising animals and renting houses, hanging objects falling off and throwing objects at high altitude? All kinds of "worries" and "troubles" plague the broad masses. Disputes over property fees and property service contracts are multifarious and common in daily life.
"My roof is leaking, the quality of the house is unqualified, and I refuse to pay the property fee." "I bought a house, but I didn’t decorate it and didn’t live in it. I didn’t enjoy the property service. Why should I pay the property fee?" When it comes to unqualified property services of some companies, owners are often indignant. It is undeniable that in the face of some unreasonable demands, property companies often have difficulties.
"This case impressed me deeply, from which I can realize that it is not easy to solve the property management problem." Bao Hua, a partner of Anli Law Firm, told the reporter that a developer and its subordinate property company had a conflict with the owners, and the owners hired a new property company by holding the owners’ meeting. However, since 2015, there have been many lawsuits around the property management right, including not only civil litigation, but also administrative litigation. Even though the government and the court have made a series of guiding opinions and judgments, the present situation has not been fundamentally improved.
Property management is difficult, why? According to Wang Conghu, a professor at the School of Public Administration of China Renmin University, there are many reasons. The uneven level of property companies and the poor service quality of some companies are the important reasons for the contradictions. The "inaction" and "chaos" of some functional departments have intensified contradictions to some extent. Coupled with the lack of trust and effective communication between owners and property companies, mutual suspicion is inevitable.
Liu Lihua, director of the Legal Department of Beijing Property Management Industry Association, believes that many owners are not enthusiastic about participating in community autonomy. In practice, there is a lack of effective supervision over the established owners’ organizations, and cases of members of the industry Committee abusing power for personal gain occur from time to time.
"The lack of legal publicity related to property management has led to misunderstanding of property management in all walks of life, and many people have a wrong understanding of the rights and obligations of owners and property companies." Liu Lihua said.
The masses have called for legislation.
"Small property" affects "great people’s livelihood". As an important symbol to measure the level of urban management, the quality of property management directly affects citizens’ sense of acquisition, happiness and security.
The masses have called for it, and legislation has responded. Recently, Shenzhen, Beijing, Chongqing and other places have successively implemented property management regulations, Chengdu, Guangzhou and other places have put the revision or formulation of property management regulations on the agenda, and Taizhou, Xining, Jiujiang, Hengshui and other places have also publicly solicited opinions on the city’s property management regulations.
Wang Rongmei, director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the Standing Committee of the Beijing Municipal People’s Congress, said that the promulgation of the Beijing Property Management Regulations will solve the property management problems and standardize the property management work according to law, and build a new pattern of grassroots governance in megacities with the characteristics of the capital.
The regulations mention that property management is incorporated into the community governance system. Liu Lihua believes that this is the most distinctive highlight. It is in line with the requirements of the new era to strengthen community governance and give play to the leading role of party building.
In view of the important role of the community in the prevention and control of the epidemic, the regulations have added provisions to deal with emergencies, and made it clear that street offices and township governments are responsible for guiding property service providers to carry out their work and giving them material and financial support.
What if there is no industry Committee? The regulations creatively proposed the establishment of a "property management Committee". The purpose of organizing owners to jointly decide on property management matters is to promote the emergence of industry committees. "The emergence of the property management meeting is in line with the needs of the current situation, which is conducive to the benign communication between the owners and the property companies and realizes the smooth transition and long-term development of the property management in the community." Zhang Yongqian, general manager of Great Wall Property Beijing Branch, said.
In order to balance the interests of all parties, the regulations stipulate that property fees should be adjusted by the market and adjusted in a timely manner. If the owner refuses to pay the property fee within the time limit, the property service provider may bring a lawsuit or apply for arbitration according to law. The court may, in accordance with the law, make a consumption restriction order against the owner who refuses to implement it and include it in the list of people who have lost their trust.
The regulations also put forward clear requirements for property companies, which increased their illegal costs. For example, property service providers should truthfully publicize and update the charging standards and methods of property services, strengthen inspections and maintenance of elevators and fire-fighting facilities, take necessary measures to prevent hanging objects from falling off, and dissuade or report uncivilized behaviors. If the property service provider refuses to quit after being dismissed, he will be fined 10,000 yuan per day from the day after the expiration of the specified time; If the owner fails to give priority to renting the parking garage, each illegally rented parking space can be fined up to 10,000 yuan.
Due to the lack of special maintenance funds, the maintenance and replacement of public facilities and equipment are often delayed for a long time. To this end, the regulations stipulate that when the balance of special maintenance funds is less than 30% of the initial amount raised, the owners’ organization shall promptly notify the owners to make up. In addition, more than 50% of public revenue should be supplemented first.
Giving the grass-roots part the power to enforce the law is a major feature. "Special authorization is made by Beijing on the basis of summing up long-term practical experience and has practical significance." Wang Conghu pointed out that the sinking of law enforcement power can alleviate the embarrassment of "those who have the right to enforce the law, but those who have the right to enforce the law are invisible" to a certain extent, which is a useful supplement to the law enforcement mechanism of "whistling in the streets and reporting to the departments".
In addition, the regulations also respond to other issues of public concern, such as comprehensive improvement of old communities, early property, emergency maintenance of out-of-control communities, and punishment for uncivilized behavior.
While embodying commonness, local regulations have their own characteristics in combination with reality.
The Regulations of Chongqing Municipality on Property Management refines the list of prohibited behaviors in property management areas, encourages the use of new technologies to facilitate property services, establishes a third-party evaluation system, and creates accommodation service specifications such as homestays.
The Regulations of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone on Property Management requires strengthening the supervision of owners’ joint funds and special maintenance funds, modifying the entry into force and voting threshold of owners’ meeting, lowering the election threshold of industry committees, and strengthening the supervision of industry committees.
Multi-party cooperation and implementation
The life of law lies in its implementation.
"The promulgation of the regulations is the first and most important step to improve the legal system of property management in Beijing." Bao Hua pointed out, but regulations alone are not enough.
"The key to landing is problem-oriented, and it is forced to be implemented by solving problems." Liu Lihua believes that we must first strengthen the construction of supporting systems. At present, many regulations are principled, and relevant departments need to introduce relevant supporting measures in time, so that the original intention of legislation can be implemented.
There are many property management projects involving a wide range, so it is necessary to fully mobilize the enthusiasm of all parties. "It is essential for government departments, relevant institutions and organizations to perform their duties. Strengthen the training of staff and property practitioners organized by competent departments, streets, communities and owners to ensure their effective performance of their duties. At the same time, departments and personnel who are not in place are urged and accountable according to regulations. " Liu Lihua said that it is also necessary to give play to the role of industry associations and professional service organizations and promote the improvement of property management level with the help of all parties.
There are many and miscellaneous property disputes, so it is unrealistic to go through legal procedures. The Regulations of Beijing Municipality on Property Management mentions the establishment of a diversified dispute resolution mechanism consisting of people’s mediation, industry mediation, administrative mediation and judicial mediation. "This mechanism and its benign operation is an effective way to resolve contradictions. But at present, it is not enough for this mechanism to participate in solving residential property disputes. How to improve the mechanism and speed up the operation is the key. " Wang Conghu said.
It is indispensable to improve the service ability of property companies and supervise them. The company should concentrate on improving the service level and improving the satisfaction of the owners. In order to effectively assess and supervise property companies, people in the industry suggest to further quantify the property service indicators and update the current property service standards.
In addition, the publicity and education of owners can not be ignored. "Some owners have weak legal awareness, lack of contractual spirit, default on property fees for no reason, and act arbitrarily in the community." Wang Conghu believes that the regulations provide penalties for a variety of uncivilized behaviors. Strengthening publicity and education and improving the joint punishment mechanism of personal credit will help reduce the occurrence of the above behaviors.
Some experts said that in the process of implementing the regulations, we should also pay attention to possible new problems. For example, in the absence of an industry Committee, will the property management Committee continue to be "temporary"? Property service is essentially a civil legal relationship between owners and property service providers, and community governance adopts the administrative management mode of party Committee leadership, government leadership and multi-participation. Can property management take into account the interests of all parties after it is incorporated into community governance?
"In fact, property management is closely related to social governance and national governance." Wang Conghu said that property management is an important content of grass-roots social governance, and it is also an important embodiment of self-management and self-governance of the masses. An important basis for the modernization of the national governance system and governance capacity is the self-governance of the masses.
"This job is not easy, sometimes it costs a lot, but there are still people who don’t understand. But I am still very happy to see that the community is getting cleaner and orderly every day. We now advocate party building, multi-party cooperation, and diligent communication and discussion. " An overview of Chen Hansong’s feelings after working in the industry committee for nearly 4 years.
Breaking the "chronic disease" of property is difficult for one party alone. In addition to abiding by laws, regulations and management regulations, everyone must sit down and negotiate when encountering disputes. At that time, we might as well complain and blame less and be more understanding and tolerant. (Reporter Shi Zhipeng)
