Property fee refers to

In recent days, Xiao Chen has been particularly depressed. I bought a finely decorated new house and didn't live in it for more than two years, but the property repeatedly sent messages and called to collect property fees. Severe cases can be urged more than ten times a day. The most exasperating thing is that the property manager actually "threatened" yesterday. "If the property fee is not paid within 7 days, the property will take legal measures to sue the owner."

Xiao Chen hasn't paid the property fee for two years. He thinks there are reasonable reasons: on the one hand, the new house he bought has been vacant for two years, which shows that he has never enjoyed the service of the property, and he should not pay the property fee if he does not enjoy the service; On the other hand, it has been two years since the house was delivered, but there are still many quality and fine decoration problems. The owner reported the problem to the property, reported the matter for repair, and the property shirked the building. The property also said that the maintenance matters had been handed over to the property, so Tai Chi was played back and forth between the property and the building, and the important maintenance problems were not solved at all. In particular, the master bedroom wall is empty in a large area and the balcony leaks water. In addition, there are many times when the owners ask the property to cooperate, but the property ignores it and the service attitude is negative. Really should that sentence, the property is "the first place to collect money anyway."

Should vacant houses be charged property fees? There has been great controversy for many years. Some people think that no one lives in the new house, indicating that the property has not served itself well and should not charge property fees; Some people think that although the house is vacant and no one lives, in fact, the property is serviced, the public area is clean, the whole community is safe, and the property has been going on. Some people even stand in the middle of the position that the property has services, but the owners also have good reasons not to pay the property fees, so the most reasonable way is to appropriately reduce the property fees of vacant houses, so that the interests of both sides are taken care of, and no one has anything to say.

According to survey statistics, in fact, most owners of vacant houses are unwilling to pay property fees-the results of Sina Finance and Economics questionnaire survey in April 2020 show that 64.5% people think that "vacant houses should not be charged with property fees", 30.5% people think that "vacant houses should be charged" and 5% people "don't care".

In addition, the internet is full of the argument that "all vacant houses will stop charging property fees", which makes many vacant house owners know little about whether to pay property fees, so that they will not get the upper hand when negotiating with the property.

Not only that, in recent years, in fact, the relationship between property and owners is "incompatible." The two parties who originally provided services and were served are now opposite. It is worth mentioning that in recent years, there are more and more voices calling for "total cancellation of property". In the final analysis, there are many problems with the property: First, the property is improperly positioned. They are hired by the owners to serve the owners, but in many cases, the property is more like the "owner" of the community. What's more, he is arrogant and overbearing to his master; Secondly, most of the property services are not conscious, especially some properties built by "grassroots teams" lack professionalism; Moreover, property owners like to "seek personal gains from the public", that is, to make profits from the public areas of the park, or even steal the column and take the source of interests as their own.

The public's call for "total cancellation of property" is getting stronger and stronger, so will the property be cancelled? The answer is no, the official has given a conclusion on July 13, 2020-Xinhua.com published an article entitled "Real estate should not be a powder keg in the city", which is the "conclusion" about the preservation and abolition of real estate: the call for canceling real estate is endless. Before finding a better alternative service model, the property still has its value and necessity ... In real life, there are indeed many properties that are conscientious and thoughtful, and have won the trust of the owners, and should not be "one size fits all".

The official meaning is clear: first, the property will not be cancelled until a replacement is found; Second, the property is not useless, and not all properties are tit for tat by the owners. Some service-oriented, reasonable and standardized property units still win the trust of the owners.

It is impossible to completely cancel the property, which means that there are still many opportunities for the owners to deal with the property in the future, especially in collecting property fees, and the owners will inevitably contact the property. Then it is absolutely necessary for us to have a detailed and clear understanding of the payment of property fees. Should vacant houses be charged property fees? Really, as many people say, all vacant houses stop charging property fees?

The new rules are coming. Starting from this year, all property fees are paid in this way.

Should vacant houses pay property fees? We know that before 202 1, some places can indeed reduce some property fees, such as Nanjing, Shandong, Wuxi and other provinces and cities. Taking Wuxi as an example, Article 16 of the Measures for the Implementation of Wuxi Property Service Charge Management, which came into effect on April 1 2020, stipulates that for residential properties that are not moved in in time due to the owner's reasons or are not moved in or used after moving in, the owner shall inform the property service enterprise in writing in advance, and after confirmation, the property service fee shall be paid at 70% of the prescribed standard, and the longest period of reduction or exemption is 24 months. After the establishment of the owners' congress, it shall be approved by the owners' congress and the property service enterprise.

However, the new provisions in the Encyclopedia of Social Life and the Civil Code, which were officially implemented on 1 October1,gave the latest clear answer. Article 944 of the new regulation clearly stipulates that from this year, all property fees will be paid in this way:

The owner shall pay the property fee to the property service provider as agreed. If the property service provider has provided services in accordance with the agreement and relevant regulations, the owner shall not refuse to pay the property fee on the grounds that he has not accepted or does not need to accept the relevant property services.

At this point, the conclusion is clear: no matter whether the house is vacant or not, according to the regulations, the owner should pay the property fee to the property. In other words, the reason why Xiao Chen refused to pay the property fee mentioned at the beginning of our article is actually untenable and legally unfounded. As for Xiao Chen, he didn't live in a new house, so he didn't enjoy the service. This is completely personal. There is no problem for the owner not to pay the property fee for two years, and the property is collected reasonably, because the civil law also stipulates that "if the owner fails to pay the property fee within the time limit in violation of the agreement, the property service provider may urge him to pay it within a reasonable period; If the payment is not made after the expiration of a reasonable period, the property service provider may file a lawsuit or apply for arbitration. "

As for "vacant houses also need to pay property fees in full and on time", we think it should be indisputable. Many people refuse to pay property fees on the grounds of "not accepting services", which is essentially a mentality of "taking advantage". Because property fees are not only the fees charged for individual services of some owners, it is not appropriate to determine whether some owners enjoy some direct services. In other words, the cost of a property management company is not determined by the number of owners. With one more owner or one less owner, security, cleaning and housekeeping will not be reduced, and the cost will not be reduced. From this perspective, if many people refuse or delay the payment of property fees on the grounds of vacant houses, in fact, the legitimate rights and interests of the vast majority of owners will be ultimately damaged.

In addition, vacant houses must pay property fees as agreed, and the more important role is to "curb investment speculation". In reality, many rich people buy houses and don't rent them, which is simply a waste of vacant space. In this case, if the laws and regulations still support "free property fees for vacant houses", it is obviously not in line with the spirit of "living without speculation". Although the annual property fee for a house is not much, the annual property fee for a house with a square meter of 100 is only 2760 yuan according to the grade 2.3 calculation. But in any case, this is also a kind of "burden" of holding real estate. In fact, some experts and scholars believe that not only vacant houses should be exempted from paying property fees, on the contrary, property fees should be levied on them many times. The reason is that vacant houses have caused a waste of resources, and even more invisibly squeezed the vital interests of just-needed property buyers.

However, it is worth mentioning that the Civil Code also stipulates five situations: the owner can pay less or refuse to pay the property fee: 1, and the residential facilities are not up to standard, so the property fee should be reduced or exempted. Part of the relief shall be borne by the developer until it reaches the standard; 2, overdue delivery or housing quality problems during the maintenance period, can refuse to pay property fees; 3. In the property contract, the owner has the right to refuse to pay this part of the property fee if the additional services are not agreed or agreed by the owner; 4. If the property company raises the charging standard of property services without authorization, the owner may refuse to pay the part that is raised without authorization; 5. If the property fee standard does not conform to the property service charging method formulated by the relevant departments, the owner may refuse to pay. For example, the "value-added service fee" skillfully set by many property companies is unreasonable, and the owners can not pay it.

According to the new regulations, starting from this year, all property fees will be collected in this way: whether to safeguard the rights and interests of the vast majority of people, to abide by the policy itself, or to curb investment speculation, whether the house is vacant or not, we all think it is very necessary to pay the property fees as agreed. Therefore, no one should refuse to pay property fees on the grounds of "not accepting services", which should achieve a kind of social universality.