The housing issue is related to ensuring and improving people's livelihoods, and developing the housing rental market is an important way to effectively solve the housing problem. On July 16th, the State Council announced the "Regulations on Housing Rental" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which will come into effect on September 15th of this year. Recently, officials from the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Housing and Urban Rural Development answered questions from reporters regarding the "Regulations". Question: Please briefly introduce the background of the promulgation of the Regulation. Answer: In recent years, China's housing rental market has continued to develop, playing an important role in achieving a place to live, improving housing conditions, promoting new urbanization, and promoting urban-rural integration development. At the same time, the development of China's housing rental market also faces some problems. The market order needs to be standardized, and the protection of the legitimate rights and interests of both parties to the lease is not sufficient; The main body of the housing rental market supply is individuals, and the development of market-oriented and specialized institutional entities is insufficient; There are still non-standard behaviors in the release of housing information and fee collection by housing rental brokerage agencies; The supervision and management of housing rental activities still need to be strengthened. To solve the above problems, it is necessary to further implement relevant civil legal systems, adjust the civil rights and obligations of the parties involved in housing rental activities, and formulate specialized administrative regulations to more effectively regulate and guide the housing rental market, promote high-quality development of the housing rental market, and provide support for accelerating the establishment of a housing system that combines renting and purchasing. Q: How does the Regulation regulate rental and leasing behavior, and protect the legitimate rights and interests of lessors and lessees? Answer: Standardizing rental and leasing behavior, protecting the legitimate rights and interests of landlords and tenants, is an important aspect of regulating the order of the housing rental market and an important content of the Regulations. In response to prominent issues in practice, the Regulation stipulates that rental housing must comply with relevant regulations and mandatory standards such as construction and fire safety, and must not endanger personal safety and health; Non residential spaces such as kitchens, bathrooms, balconies, corridors, underground storage rooms, and garages shall not be rented out separately for residential purposes; The upper limit of the number of people renting a single room in rental housing and the minimum per capita rental area shall comply with the standards set by the local people's governments at or above the city level. Secondly, it is stipulated that the lessor and lessee shall sign a housing lease contract using their real names, and the housing lease contract shall be filed with the local real estate management department. Thirdly, it is necessary to clarify the behavioral norms between the lessor and the lessee, especially regarding the inadequate protection of the legitimate rights and interests of the lessee. It is stipulated that the housing lease contract should clearly stipulate the amount of the deposit, the return time, and the circumstances for deducting the deposit. The lessor shall not deduct the deposit without justifiable reasons; The lessor shall notify the lessee of the termination of the housing lease contract and leave a reasonable time for the lessee to vacate the leased housing. The lessor shall not use violence, threats, or other illegal means to force the lessee to terminate the contract or vacate the housing. Q: What provisions does the Regulation make in guiding and regulating the development of housing rental enterprises? Answer: On the one hand, the Regulation clearly stipulates that the state should improve policy measures to cultivate market-oriented and specialized housing rental enterprises, and at the same time strengthen the regulation of housing rental enterprises. It stipulates that housing rental enterprises should have their own funds, employees, and management capabilities that are suitable for their business scale, and submit opening information to the local real estate management department; The published housing information should be true, accurate, and complete, and false or misleading housing information should not be published, or important information about the intended rental housing should be concealed or refused to be provided; Establish housing rental archives, improve internal management systems, and prohibit illegal collection, use, processing, transmission, or illegal buying, selling, providing, or disclosing of personal information of others; Submit information on the rental housing they operate to the real estate management department; Those engaged in subleasing operations shall establish a housing rental fund supervision account in accordance with regulations and handle the payment and receipt of housing rental funds through this account. In addition, considering the existence of natural persons engaged in subleasing business on a large scale in practice, the Regulation also stipulates that if natural persons sublease other people's housing to carry out housing rental business, and the business scale reaches the standards set by the competent department of housing and urban-rural development of the State Council in conjunction with the market supervision and management department of the State Council and other relevant departments, the provisions of this Regulation on housing rental enterprises shall apply. Q: In practice, many people rent housing through brokerage agencies. What are the regulations on this? Answer: The Regulation stipulates that housing rental brokerage agencies should have their own funds, employees, and management capabilities that are suitable for their business scale, and the list of employees should be filed with the local real estate management department. Secondly, it is stipulated that housing rental brokerage agencies should verify and record the identity information and housing ownership information of the client before releasing housing information, conduct on-site inspections of the housing, and prepare a housing condition statement; Clear pricing for fee based service projects; Clarify the application of this regulation to housing rental brokerage agencies regarding the submission of opening information by housing rental enterprises, disclosure of relevant information of the enterprise, release of housing information, and improvement of internal management systems. Q: How does the Regulation strengthen the supervision and management of the housing rental market? Answer: The Regulation mainly strengthens the supervision and management of the housing rental market from the following aspects. One is to stipulate that the competent department of housing and urban-rural development under the State Council, in conjunction with the market supervision and management department, shall formulate and publish model texts of housing rental contracts and housing rental brokerage service contracts; Secondly, it is stipulated that local governments at or above the city level with districts should establish a housing rent monitoring mechanism and regularly disclose rental level information; Thirdly, it is stipulated that the real estate management department should carry out management and services through the housing rental management service platform, and establish an information sharing mechanism with relevant departments; Fourthly, it is stipulated that organizations in the housing rental industry should strengthen industry self-discipline management. (New Society)