Hot off the Press! Regulations on Housing Leases

Hot off the Press! Regulations on Housing Leases

The regulations on Housing Leaseswere adopted and promulgated at the executive meeting of the State Council on June 27, 2025, and shall come into force on September 15, 2025.

The main contents of the regulations are as follows:

* Non-residential spaces such as kitchens, bathrooms, balconies, corridors, underground storage rooms, and garages shall not be separately rented out for residential purposes.

* The upper limit of the number of occupants per rental housing unit and the minimum per capita living area shall comply with the standards stipulated by the local people's governments at or above the level of a city divided into districts.

* Lessors shall, in accordance with regulations, file the housing lease contracts with the real estate management department of the place where the leased housing is located through the housing lease management service platform or other means. No fees shall be charged for the filing of housing lease contracts.

* Lessors and lessees shall sign housing lease contracts using their real names.

* Lessors shall comply with the following provisions:

(1) Present to the lessee their identity documents, the real estate ownership certificate of the housing to be leased or other materials proving their legal right to lease, and cooperate with the lessee in inquiring about and verifying information related to the housing to be leased in accordance with the law;

(2) Verify the identity documents of the lessee, and shall not lease housing to any unit or individual that refuses to present identity documents;

(3) Shall not enter the leased housing without authorization, except with the consent of the lessee or as permitted by law.

* Lessees shall comply with the following provisions:

(1) Present their identity documents to the lessor;

(2) Use the leased housing safely and reasonably, shall not damage, dismantle or deactivate fire-fighting facilities without authorization, alter the load-bearing structure of the leased housing, or arbitrarily connect water, electricity or gas pipelines;

(3) Shall not arbitrarily change the use of the leased housing, demolish or alter indoor facilities, or modify other structures of the leased housing without the consent of the lessor;

(4) Abide by the property management rules, shall not arbitrarily discard garbage, discharge pollutants in excess of standards, generate noise, keep animals in violation of regulations, build illegal structures, occupy public passages, throw objects from heights, or commit other acts that damage the legitimate rights and interests of others;

(5) Cooperate with the lessor when the lessor genuinely needs to enter the leased housing in accordance with the law.

The regulations also make special provisions on deposits:

* If a lessor collects a deposit, the amount of the deposit, the time of return, and the circumstances for deducting the deposit shall be stipulated in the housing lease contract. Except for the circumstances stipulated in the housing lease contract, the lessor shall not deduct the deposit without justifiable reasons.

However, it is regrettable that there are still no provisions on how to handle the circumstances under which the lessor deducts the deposit, which has become a headache for lessees!