Guangzhou leads reform in rental market, offers tenants equal education rights

The government of Guangzhou, capital of South China’s Guangdong Province, will offer rental tenants the same rights as housing owners to educational access, tax rebates and monetary support, a move that experts said will improve the rental market as well as curb surging home prices. Under the new regulation, tenants who hold a local hukou ( household registration) or a skilled worker certificate or fulfill the same qualifications in a point- based ranking system could enroll their children in elementary and middle schools near their rented housing, said a statement posted on a government website on Monday.

The local government also raised the amount of money that tenants could withdraw each month to pay rent from their contributions to the housing provident fund, said the statement.

“The policy plays a key role in helping boost the local rental market, which is undeveloped and lacks regulation, as well as helping cool the overheated property market, especially in areas near schools,” Hui Jianqiang, research director with real estate information provider Beijing Zhongfangyanxie Technology Service, told the Global Times on Wednesday.

More efforts are required to put the policy into practice, said Yan Yuejin, research director at Shanghai- based E- house China R& D Institute. “For instance, as education resources in firsttier cities are quite limited, rent levels of housing around good schools are likely to surge and market speculation will emerge,” he said.

A document went viral on the Internet saying the Ministry of Housing and Urban- Rural Development has agreed that cities including Nanjing, Hangzhou and Xiamen will also carry out pilot rental market reforms.