On December 18th, Beijing Chaoyang Court held a press conference and released the "White Paper on the Trial of Small scale Housing Lease Cases Involving Intermediary Institutions (2023-2024)". The white paper also released five typical cases of disputes over small scale housing lease contracts involving intermediary institutions. The reporter noticed that in a typical case of a housing lease contract dispute, the court clearly stated that if the lessor partitions the house and causes changes in the building structure, endangering the safety of the lessee's residence, the lessee has the right to demand the termination of the contract. The case shows that after signing the "House Lease Contract" with a certain intermediary agency, Fan discovered that the house was artificially partitioned, and there were obvious cracks and shaking marks of different sizes on the walls. The walls did not use solid bricks, which did not meet the fire safety standards. Fan believes that a certain intermediary organization privately modified the load-bearing structure of the house and caused safety hazards to the house. The house was not in normal use when delivered by the intermediary organization, and the behavior of the intermediary organization constitutes a breach of contract. Therefore, the lawsuit was filed with the court requesting a certain intermediary agency to refund the rent and deposit. After trial, the court found that a certain intermediary agency's rental of partitions violated relevant administrative management regulations, affecting the quality of the tenant's living. The tenant can request to terminate the contract, and therefore supports Fan's lawsuit for the refund of the deposit and the corresponding rent during the period of not using the house. Article 731 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China stipulates that if the leased property endangers the safety or health of the lessee, even if the lessee knows at the time of entering into the contract that the quality of the leased property is unqualified, the lessee may still terminate the contract at any time. The judge believes that the lessor should provide suitable rental housing, ensure that the building structure and facilities of the housing meet the safety conditions of construction, fire protection, hygiene, environmental protection, etc., and meet the basic use functions. If the lessor partitions the house and causes changes in the building structure, endangering the safety of the lessee's residence, the lessee has the right to request termination of the contract. (New Society)