Are the owners tempted by the upsurge of lowering property fees in many places？
□ Dahe Daily Yu Video Reporter Han Yuting
It is not uncommon to "increase property fees", but have you ever heard of "decrease property fees"?
Recently, the topic of "property fee adjustment" has once again become the focus of social attention. Many cities have introduced and implemented new regulations on property charges, including Chongqing, Yinchuan and other cities, which have initiated new measures for the management of property service charges, and blocked property fees in many places. Many communities have requested to reduce property fees, and not long ago, a community in Zhengzhou set a precedent for "reducing property fees".
How much should the property fee be charged? Is it reasonable for the owner to ask the property to reduce the price? How can we achieve "quality and price consistency"? Is there any possibility of lowering property fees in Zhengzhou? These problems that affect people’s wallets have always been the focus of controversy in the market.
Many places have "blocked" property fees, and many communities have requested to reduce property fees.
In fact, as early as November 2023, Guangzhou issued a notice to regulate property charges, and implemented government-guided prices for early property service charges. Relevant departments conducted classified guidance according to service levels from low to high, and the highest charge was 2.8 yuan/square meter per month; The situation beyond the limit needs to be approved by the government. This guidance price standard has actually been implemented since 2010.
Chongqing, Yinchuan, Jiangxia District of Wuhan, Chengyang District of Qingdao and other places have also issued relevant measures for the management of property service charges this year. Among them, the new regulations issued by Chongqing attract the most attention.
According to the charging standard of residential property fees in the central city of Chongqing, which came into effect on June 1, the highest property service fee for elevator houses is 1.9 yuan/m2/month, and the lowest is 1 yuan/m2/month. The maximum price of a residential building without elevator is 1.35 yuan/m2/month, and the minimum price is 0.6 yuan/m2/month. It is reported that this price is far lower than the current property charging standard of many local communities.
According to a local insider, at present, the average unit price of property fees in Chongqing is about 2 yuan/m2 for high-rise buildings and 3.5 yuan/m2 for bungalows, which obviously exceeds the guidance price. Therefore, since June, hundreds of local community owners have applied to reduce the current property costs.
According to public information, existing communities in Chongqing have announced a reduction in property fees. On June 12th, Great Wall Property, which serves Evergrande Future City Community, announced its initiative to reduce the property fee. Among them, the property management fee of high-rise residential buildings decreased from 2.4 yuan/m2 to 1.9 yuan/m2, with a decrease of about 20%.
In addition, Yinchuan also began to implement the Standard Scheme of Government Guidance Price for Early Property Services and Parking Charges of Ordinary Houses in Yinchuan in July this year, with the highest guidance price of 2.2 yuan per square meter per month. According to local media reports, 63 communities of China Shipping, Vanke, Jianfa, Jitai and other property companies took the initiative to reduce property fees before the formal implementation of the "Program", which won the praise of the majority of owners.
"The previous property fee plus elevator fee, the unit price of these two items totaled 2.65 yuan per square meter (exceeding the highest guidance price of 2.2 yuan), and now it has been directly reduced to 2.2 yuan through the one-fee system, and the parking fee has also been reduced from the original 380 yuan to 290 yuan. A 100-square-meter house can pay less property fees and parking fees totaling 1,620 yuan a year, which saves a lot of money for ordinary families." There is a local community owner in Yinchuan who has calculated the expenses.
The first "property fee reduction" community appeared in Zhengzhou in 2024. What is the current situation of property fees in the market?
Recently, Zhengzhou has also seen the first "property fee reduction" community this year. According to informed sources, a property in Zhongmu has been negotiated by the owners’ committee and the property management company, and the property fee has been reduced from high-rise 3.5 yuan to 2.3 yuan, and the villa has been reduced from 4 yuan to 2.8 yuan, with a decrease of 34% and 30% respectively. However, the market reaction to the incident was mixed. Some envious people said that it was another "other people’s community", and some owners who claimed to be the community appeared, pointing out that this operation was shady.
Regardless of which is right or wrong for the time being, the reason why this incident can attract market attention is, in the final analysis, the "property fee" involving the public interest. So, what is the current situation of Zhengzhou property fees?
At present, there are great differences between different residential areas in Zhengzhou, and the property fees in the sales volume are higher than those in 6 yuan, but most of the property fees in the sales volume are between 2.5 and 3.5 yuan. According to 2.8 yuan’s calculation, a 100-square-meter house costs 3,360 yuan a year. Compared with some old residential areas in Zhengzhou where the property fees are around 1 yuan/square meter, the property fees of the real estate for sale have indeed improved significantly.
From the market as a whole, due to the different consumption levels, the property fees in the Eastern District are higher than those in the Western District. For example, it is also a high-rise building with elevators. Zhengdong New District is often above 2 yuan, while the western district is basically between 1.5 yuan and 1.8 yuan; In the same area, the apartment property fee is higher than that of the residence. Generally, apartments are delivered with fine decoration, and the property standard will be higher than that of residential buildings, so the property fee will be higher than that of ordinary residential buildings. In Zhengzhou, the property fee standard of many ordinary residential buildings famous for their good properties will not be higher than that of 3 yuan/m2/month, but that of apartments is often higher than that of 5 yuan/m2/month.
So why is the property fee getting more and more expensive? According to the staff of a property company, "on the one hand, because the cost of property operation is increasing year by year, on the basis of considering the operating cost and labor cost, the property fee of new houses really needs to increase. On the other hand, due to the prevalence of clubs in recent years, many new buildings have owners’ clubs, and the maintenance of these gyms and lounges requires a certain cost. "
Is it possible to reduce the property fees in Zhengzhou? How can we reasonably adjust the property fee?
After the implementation of the "new property regulations" in Chongqing, many citizens in Zhengzhou began to look forward to "will Zhengzhou also reduce property fees?"
In response to this problem, Guan Rongxue, a senior analyst at Zhuge Data Research Center, believes that "the’ capping’ of property fees in many places reflects the strengthening of supervision over the property service industry, aiming at protecting consumers’ rights and interests, preventing unreasonable increase of property fees, and eliminating the situation of’ inconsistent quality and price’. In the face of this trend, coupled with the fact that Zhengzhou’s property fees are higher than those of cities at the same level, it is expected that Zhengzhou may also launch a similar property fee’ capping’ program in the future. "
In response to the government’s "blocking" of property fees, Yan Yuejin, vice president of Shanghai Yiju Real Estate Research Institute, said, "From the perspective of people’s livelihood, lowering property fees is definitely a matter of benefiting the people." However, property management is a market-oriented behavior after all. "After lowering the property fee, the operation difficulty of the property company will increase, which may trigger a series of chain reactions."
Then, if the owners are not satisfied with the standard of property fees, how can they make reasonable adjustments? The reporter learned from the relevant staff of the Property Management Office of Zhengzhou Housing Management Bureau that if the property charging standard is to be adjusted, it needs the consent of more than half of the owners (both the area and the number of people need to be more than half) before the property management department can change the property service agreement, and then make adjustments.
Wang Yuchen, director of Beijing Jin v. Law Firm, advised the owners to adjust the property fees. The best way is to set up an industry committee, which is also the most direct and effective in practice. In the process of coordinating with the realty service enterprise to reduce the property fee, if the realty service enterprise refuses to adjust, the owner may replace the realty service enterprise as appropriate.
However, if there is no industry Committee in the community and it is not convenient to set up, Wang Yuchen said that owners can also try to adopt the following methods.
First, set up a rights protection group. Although the conditions for establishing an industry committee cannot be met, owners who have time, responsibility, mind and legal awareness can still be elected as owners’ representatives to set up a special rights protection group. For example, a villa community project he once represented was not mature in the early stage, so it was impossible to set up an industry committee. However, a special rights protection team was formed, and with joint efforts, many problems were successfully excavated, creating favorable conditions and chips for later negotiations.
Second, long-term comprehensive evidence collection. Combined with the property service standards listed in the property service plan, long-term, continuous and comprehensive evidence collection is carried out for the property service of the community. For example, Zhang San is responsible for obtaining evidence for cleaning the community for a certain period of time, for example, Li Si is responsible for obtaining evidence for greening the community for a certain period of time. In this process, we must do a good job of division of labor.
Third, turn passivity into initiative. In this case of dissatisfaction with property fees, some owners may be sued by property companies for defaulting on property fees. In case of being sued, we can respond by combining the results of long-term evidence collection, and strive for the appraisal of the property service level, so as to make a relatively objective evaluation of the property service of the community through appraisal. If this evaluation is realized, and the results show that the standard of property fees can not be reached at all, you can ask for adjustment of property fees. It should be noted that this appraisal may sometimes be impossible for one reason or another. In addition, the cost is relatively high, and it is unfair if only one owner bears it. However, this is a good way to deal with the high property fees.
Fourth, we can also make a comprehensive survey of the community through government information disclosure and other means to verify the public parts of the community; It is also possible to further tap more bargaining chips through the owners’ exercise of the right to know and negotiate with the property company. If we can solve the problem through negotiation, it is undoubtedly a relatively better solution.
Finally, in the process of adjusting the property fee, the owner also needs to know the local regulations on the adjustment of the property fee in time. For example, in some places, the guide price can also be used as a bargaining chip and basis.