Some readers reported that without the consent of the relevant owners, someone in the community provided commercial accommodation services——
How to manage a B&B in a residential building (Jintai Vision)
With the booming cultural and tourism industry, some people have converted their private residences into commercial B&Bs or online room bookings. Some readers reported that some B&Bs and online rentals in residential buildings were rented out through online platforms without legal compliance approval, which affected the normal lives of residents and increased safety risks in the community. They reported this problem to relevant departments, but it has not been effectively resolved.
Commercial B&Bs in residential buildings are noisy and noisy at all times, and illegal modifications increase fire hazards.
"The vast majority of residents want a quiet and safe living environment." Mr. Liu lives near Situ Town, Jincheng City, Shanxi. He said that some residents in his community have privately transformed their houses into unlicensed B&Bs and rented rooms online. From time to time, foreign tourists come in and out of the community, making noise and noise late at night, which destroys the tranquility of the community and creates hidden security risks.
"We hope that unlicensed B&Bs and online room bookings that have been renovated in residential areas will be strictly rectified, and the access requirements agreed by building owners in the B&B operating regulations will be strictly implemented," said Mr. Liu.
Ms. Zhang, a netizen from Baohe District, Hefei City, Anhui Province, also encountered the same trouble. Recently, she complained on the "Leadership Message Board" of People's Daily Online that her neighbor's tenants had changed their house into a B&B or online room that could be booked online. It was also equipped with mahjong machines and board games without any sound insulation measures. The sound of mahjong kept playing in the middle of the night, which seriously disturbed the residents.
"Late-night noises, chasing and fights occur frequently", "access control is destroyed", "elevators are overloaded for a long time and break down frequently, posing safety risks"... For some time, on the "Leadership Message Board" of the People's Daily Online, many netizens have reported that B&Bs and online room reservations in residential buildings disturb residents. In addition to affecting the tranquility of the community, there are also cases of illegal conversion into B&Bs.
Mr. Ji, a reader from Xi'an City, Shaanxi Province, said that the tenant above him made unauthorized changes to the original layout of the house a few years ago. He illegally divided the house into 4 separate rooms, added 4 separate bathrooms, and turned the house into multiple B&Bs for rent. Since last year, the roof of his house has been leaking. After it was repaired, it started leaking again this year, causing the walls to turn black and the wardrobe and bed to become moldy.
A netizen in Nanjing City, Jiangsu Province, complained that the 13th floor of a comprehensive building where he lives is a residential apartment. "Some residents privately divided a house into 6 to 10 small compartments, and then equipped them with large or double beds. The number of people in a single house is far more than 10 people." He said that such renovations pose fire hazards. Not only does the evacuation distance of the rooms not meet the standard, but some people also cut open the fireproof partition wall of two independent houses to form a large connected space. In addition, the original residential power distribution design load is small, multiple high-power appliances are used simultaneously, and the risk of electrical fire is high.
Relevant regulations on "renovation of housing to business" have not been implemented at the implementation level, and the rights and responsibilities of homestay supervision have been split among multiple departments.
"Using vacant rooms in residential buildings to open B&Bs is a 'residence-to-commercial' issue of converting residential buildings into commercial properties, and the legal relationship is clear." Bi Wenqiang, vice president and secretary-general of the Beijing Property Law Research Association, believes that such issues are not qualitatively complex. First of all, you need to check whether the owners of the "housing-to-renovation business" strictly abide by the relevant legal regulations. Secondly, if you operate legally, do you comply with relevant laws and regulations such as environment, traffic, and public order?
However, at the implementation level, the resolution of B&B disputes in residential buildings has not been satisfactory.
According to Article 279 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, owners shall not violate laws, regulations and management regulations by converting residences into commercial buildings. If an owner changes a residence into a commercial building, in addition to complying with laws, regulations and management regulations, the owner must obtain the unanimous consent of all interested owners. In other words, "residential reform developers" first need the consent of interested owners.
Bi Wenqiang said that obtaining the consent of interested owners actually balances the rights of operators and surrounding residents. It not only protects the rights and interests of surrounding residents, but also protects operators. “Once the owners agree, it means that the operators’ legal business activities are supported.” It is a win-win move. However, many B&Bs do not comply with this regulation, and relevant departments do not strictly implement it.
Mr. Su, a reader from Qixing District, Guilin City, Guangxi Province, complained about noise nuisance at night from his neighbor's B&B on the 14th floor. However, the relevant departments refused to deal with it because the other party had a business license. When he claimed that he had violated Article 279 of the Civil Code, the local government department responded, “When registering for a B&B, the applicant needs to sign and submit a Commitment Letter for the Use of Residence (Business Premises), which includes a commitment to obtain the consent of the interested owner to change the residence into a business If the property is used for sex, the registration authority shall issue a business license accordingly.” After Mr. Su complained, although the relevant departments determined that the owner had not obtained the unanimous consent of the interested owners in accordance with the regulations, they still proposed that “it should be resolved through litigation by the interested owners, property committees, property companies, etc.”
This situation is not an isolated case. Ms. Chen, a reader in Huangpu District, Shanghai, complained that a neighbor turned a private house into a B&B without the permission of other residents, which was not in compliance with Article 279 of the Civil Code. The relevant department responded and asked Ms. Chen to resolve the matter through judicial channels. In practice, there are indeed many cases where owners have successfully resorted to court based on this, but going to court with their neighbors requires a lot of manpower and energy, and most people are discouraged.
At the same time, for disputes over homestays in residential buildings, many areas are subject to practical obstacles such as insufficient refinement of upper-level regulations and unclear law enforcement boundaries at the grassroots level. The management methods often remain at the level of interviews and persuasion. In March this year, a place in Guangdong said in response to the problem of B&Bs disturbing residents: "At present, national and provincial, municipal, and district laws and regulations have not yet set detailed regulatory requirements for key dimensions such as the business nature and access qualifications, public security management standards, and fire safety regulations of hourly and daily rental houses." Because "there is a lack of management basis, it is difficult to position and manage hourly and daily rental houses and B&Bs during the supervision process of our town." "Currently, we can only carry out policy and legal publicity."
During the specific implementation process, the regulatory powers and responsibilities for B&Bs in residential buildings were split among multiple departments. For example, the public security organs mainly carry out public security management of short-term rental housing in accordance with the "Regulations on Public Security Management of Rental Housing", and violations of unlicensed operations will be accepted by the market supervision department. This leads to obvious differences in the legal application standards for the same type of issues in different regions and different departments, which directly results in the inability of the masses to find a clear path when defending their rights.
Bi Wenqiang believes that the "Notice on Further Strengthening Comprehensive Supervision of the Tourism Market" issued by the General Office of the State Council in September last year clearly states that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will take the lead in the overall planning and coordination of comprehensive supervision of the tourism market; local governments at or above the county level shall coordinate the supervision of the tourism market in the region; it also requires "steady advancement of cross-departmental and cross-regional joint inspections and law enforcement cooperation" and "discovering clues to problems involving multi-departmental supervision responsibilities, and promptly cooperating with relevant departments to carry out investigations." As a part of the tourism market, B&Bs should clarify the relevant responsible departments accordingly.
However, as the leading department, the cultural and tourism department has its own difficulties. A relevant person said that the cultural and tourism departments lack corresponding grip on the management of B&Bs. “The cultural and tourism department does not have the authority to approve B&Bs, and therefore does not have basic information about B&Bs, making supervision more difficult.”
In addition, the boundaries of concepts such as homestays and online room reservations are not yet clear at present, and the positioning of homestays in residential buildings is in a fuzzy zone. If it is regarded as a hotel industry, it needs to obtain a business license, a public place sanitation license, pass fire inspection and acceptance, and obtain a special industry license before it can operate; it is regarded as an individual short-term rental and does not even need to apply for a business license.
In July this year, the Ordos Municipal Government in Inner Mongolia stated in its reply letter to the CPPCC proposal that in the absence of special regulations by the country and the autonomous region, local management responsibilities should be implemented according to local conditions, and B&Bs and online room bookings would be divided into several levels. Those with “concentrated housing supply and a certain scale” would be included in the management of the hotel industry, while those with “scattered housing supply, small scale, and unsuitable for setting up a front desk” would be managed as rental houses. Ms. Li, a B&B practitioner in the city, told reporters that she currently operates a B&B with four or five rooms, which is closed because she does not have a license. I asked the relevant departments what they meant by "scattered housing and small scale", and the reply was that they were waiting for the plan to be implemented. “The policy is vague, and it will also be vague when implemented by law enforcement agencies,” she said, hoping that government departments would have a clear definition as soon as possible.
Clearly define the nature of B&Bs in residential buildings and recommend the establishment of a pre-registration and filing system
Only by clarifying the positioning of B&Bs can we clearly define the legal nature of B&Bs in residential buildings, as well as refine their entry thresholds and opening conditions. According to Zhang Yi, a professor at Zhejiang Tourism Vocational College, according to the national standard "Basic Requirements and Classification of Tourist B&Bs" (GB/T41648-2022) that will be implemented in February 2023 (hereinafter referred to as the "Standard"), tourist B&Bs refer to small accommodation facilities that use local idle resources such as residential buildings, and the hosts participate in the reception to provide tourists with experience of local nature, culture, production and lifestyle. “The host’s personal service and participation in reception are important features of a B&B,” she said.
As one of the main drafters of the "Standard", Zhang Yi pointed out that the "Standard" proposed that "business guest room buildings should not exceed 4 floors and the building area should not exceed 800 square meters." This size requirement was based on fire safety considerations and was based on the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development at the time. , the Ministry of Public Security and the National Tourism Administration jointly issued the "Notice on Issuing the Fire Protection Guidelines for Farmhouses (B&B) Buildings (Trial)" Jiancun [2017] No. 50 "The maximum is 4 floors and the building area does not exceed 800 square meters".
In order to address the issue of insufficient enforcement of "residential to commercial" law enforcement, it is not only necessary to clarify the rights and responsibilities of market supervision, public security, housing construction, culture and tourism and other departments, but also to achieve cross-departmental information sharing and establish a normalized joint law enforcement working mechanism.
Li Li, a professor at the Civil and Commercial Law School of Southwest University of Political Science and Law, suggested establishing a pre-registration and filing system for B&Bs. "The fundamental problem with this phenomenon is that some commercial accommodation activities have been outside the registration and filing system for a long time." He believes that any residence that provides short-term accommodation to unspecified people in the society for the purpose of business must submit a consent certificate from interested owners, a fire protection certificate, a public security management responsibility letter and other materials before opening, and it can only operate after being filed. Failure to register is an illegal operation and will be directly investigated and punished by the competent authorities. Post-punishment will be transformed into pre-filtration. "During the filing review, the legality of changes in the housing structure should be verified. Suspected violations of illegal reconstruction and expansion can be dealt with in accordance with the Urban and Rural Planning Law and other regulations." Operators or property owners whose illegal operations have been verified multiple times can be included in the credit record and restricted from applying for filing again.
Zhang Li also said that in addition to requiring property companies to fulfill their obligations of discovery, dissuasion and reporting, it is also necessary to consolidate the main responsibilities of online service platforms such as OTA (online travel) for pre-review of homestay listings, require platforms to conduct substantive verification of core materials such as operating qualifications of listed listings, and refuse to list unregistered listings.
Mr. Tian, a reader, said that some B&Bs whose addresses directly read "Public Rental Housing - Building 18" can be listed on online platforms. Other regulatory authorities have determined that B&Bs violate regulations and can only allow B&B operators to close their rental properties on online platforms. Online platforms are not illegal. For listings that clearly violate regulations, relevant departments have the right to require online platforms to immediately take hierarchical measures such as delisting, limiting traffic, and banning accounts. He suggested that the punishment of B&B business entities that operate without a license and fail to make rectifications for multiple violations should be increased, and effective governance should be formed by increasing the cost of violating the law.
Recently, the 25th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th Hunan Provincial People's Congress passed the "Hunan Provincial Homestay Regulations" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"). As the first provincial-level local regulations in the country with B&Bs as the main regulatory content, “B&Bs shall not be opened in residential buildings with more than four floors in urban residential areas; those who open B&Bs in residences with four floors or less shall abide by laws, regulations and management regulations, and obtain approval from interested parties.” The owners unanimously agreed. "Intermediaries such as online trading platforms that provide transaction services to B&B operators should register them with their real names and verify the authenticity of business licenses, special industry licenses and other relevant information," which responded to problems that arise in B&B management.
Zhang Li believes that the "Regulations" promote the management of homestays from principled regulations to full-chain governance of access, operation, platform and department coordination. For example, the "Regulations" set floor limits for B&Bs in urban residential areas and require the unanimous consent of interested owners, which responds to practical issues such as residents' living peace, shared rights and housing safety; at the same time, online trading platforms are included in supervision, requiring real-name registration, verification of business licenses and special industry licenses, and taking measures such as cessation of services and reporting of false information and illegal activities, which will help move the regulatory gate forward.
He also said that it should be noted that although the "Regulations" provide for a multi-departmental joint approval mechanism, this is not a complete pre-recording system for B&Bs. The next step should be to refine the B&B identification methods, fire protection standards, review materials and platform responsibility boundaries as soon as possible to avoid problems such as inconsistent approval standards, repeated approvals or unclear regulatory responsibilities.
