Law

Long term vacancy, malicious arrears by tenants, loss of thousands of files... Typical cases of "two highs" reveal chaos in public rental housing

2025-12-22   

To fully leverage the exemplary and leading role of typical cases, today the Supreme People's Court and the Supreme People's Procuratorate jointly held a press conference to release seven typical cases of administrative public interest litigation to the public. The reporter noticed that in the fourth case of "Xing'an District People's Procuratorate of Hegang City, Heilongjiang Province v. Xing'an District Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau of Hegang City for Not Fulfilling the Supervision Responsibilities of Public Rental Housing", the judicial authorities focused on issues such as long-term vacancy of public rental housing, malicious arrears of tenants, and loss of archives, and promoted the construction of digital archives for public rental housing through administrative public interest litigation, effectively promoting the full play of public welfare state-owned property to benefit the people. The case shows that public rental housing, as urban affordable housing, has public welfare attributes and is a beneficial project to solve the housing problems of low-income groups and families facing housing difficulties. There are currently 4206 public rental housing units in Xing'an District, Hegang City. After big data screening, the People's Procuratorate of Xing'an District, Hegang City found that 98 public rental housing units have been vacant for a long time, 11 tenants do not meet the living conditions, 110 tenants with delivery capabilities maliciously owe rent for more than 6 months, and more than 4000 households have lost their housing files, contracts are overdue, audit items are missing, and information is distorted for many years. The Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau of Xing'an District has neglected its duties, causing damage to national interests and social public interests. The Xing'an District Procuratorate has initiated an investigation into the Xing'an District Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau, and on September 10, 2024, announced the delivery of prosecutorial recommendations to the bureau, suggesting that they perform their duties in accordance with the law, identify the root of the problems, classify and implement policies based on the specific situation of the tenants, strengthen dynamic management of supervision, and ensure that public rental housing is used in accordance with the law and regulations; Implement responsibility and improve mechanisms to achieve comprehensive and standardized management and performance. On November 8, 2024, the Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau of Xing'an District replied in writing that the bureau had sorted out the problem of rent arrears in public rental housing in its jurisdiction, analyzed the reasons for the problem, and dismissed 53 tenants who did not meet the conditions. The Xing'an District Prosecutor's Office found through follow-up supervision that the bureau has not fully performed its duties, and there are instances of false rectification and inadequate rectification: the rent received cannot provide corresponding payment vouchers; 53 vacant rooms have been cleared and their locations are unclear, which is inconsistent with the on-site investigation by the procuratorial organs; Two public rental housing units have been registered for recovery due to the death of tenants, which is inconsistent with the investigation results; 16 public rental housing units with changed tenants have not been dynamically verified, and there are still over 3000 housing files with missing content and distorted information; We have not yet formulated a supporting system and mechanism for the management of public rental housing based on reality. The management of public rental housing is still chaotic, and the continuous loss of state-owned property has led to the failure of state-owned property with public welfare attributes to fully play its role in benefiting the people. On January 3, 2025, the Xing'an District Procuratorate filed an administrative public interest lawsuit with the Xing'an District People's Court of Hegang City in accordance with the law, requesting that the Xing'an District Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau fully fulfill its responsibilities for public rental housing management in accordance with the law. During the trial, the Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau of Xing'an District stated that it had collected partial rent, supplemented housing archives, and established a housing management mechanism, and had fulfilled its duties in accordance with the law. On the basis of a comprehensive review of 110 on-site investigation videos of tenants who owe rent provided by the procuratorial organs, tenant visit investigation forms, and retrieved public rental housing archives materials, the Xing'an District Court determined that the Xing'an District Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau still has problems such as unpaid rent receivables, unattended vacant houses, serious deficiencies in archive management, and responsibility becoming a formality. Therefore, the court ordered the bureau to continue to perform its duties. After the judgment was made, the Housing and Urban Rural Development Bureau of Xing'an District immediately launched a special action to collect public rental housing rent and clear houses throughout the area. During this period, the judicial and procuratorial organs jointly invited representatives of the National People's Congress and members of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference to coordinate with relevant units such as housing and urban-rural development, civil affairs, and streets to hold a joint meeting to promote the systematic governance of public rental housing issues. At present, all relevant issues have been rectified, and the construction of digital archives for public rental housing in the jurisdiction has officially started. The "Two Highs" stated that the procuratorial organs adhere to the principle of justice for the people, use digital prosecutorial thinking, focus on the prominent problems and management chaos in the field of public rental housing, accurately discover problem clues, and urge administrative organs to fulfill their regulatory responsibilities through the issuance of prosecutorial suggestions and other means, and timely follow up with supervision. In response to the inadequate rectification of administrative organs, they will file lawsuits in accordance with the law, urge administrative organs to carry out special actions, and promote systematic rectification. The people's court conducts a comprehensive review of evidence, makes objective and fair judgments based on facts and laws, holds joint meetings with the procuratorial organs, coordinates relevant units to fully cooperate with the rectification work, constructs a "supervision judgment promotion" loop, and uses judicial joint efforts to effectively solve problems. (New Society)

Edit:Wang Shu Ying Responsible editor:Li Jie

Source:guangming daily

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