Conditions for reducing or exempting property fees for vacant houses in 2023

The conditions for reducing or exempting property fees for vacant houses in 2023 mainly include the following aspects:

1. The recognized vacant period of the house has reached a certain standard. The standards may be different in different regions, but in general, the criteria for identifying vacant houses are vacant for more than a certain period of time, such as more than 6 months, or more than 1 year. Such regulations can effectively distinguish real vacant houses and avoid abusing political policies.

2. Housing owners need to take the initiative to apply for property fee reduction. The reduction or exemption of property fees does not automatically take effect, and the owner of the house needs to take the initiative to apply to the relevant departments and provide corresponding materials to prove that the house is vacant. Such regulations can ensure the fairness of policies and prevent unqualified houses from enjoying relief.

3. The owner of the house shall pay other related expenses on time. Reducing or exempting the property fee does not mean that the owner of the house can be exempted from paying other fees, such as housing capital construction fee and public maintenance fund. Housing owners need to pay these fees on time to ensure the normal operation of public facilities.

The owner of the house needs to keep the house intact. Reducing or exempting property fees does not mean that house owners can treat house repair and maintenance irresponsibly. On the contrary, the owner of the house needs to keep the house in good condition and carry out regular repairs and maintenance to ensure that the house will not have quality problems due to vacancy.

5. The owner of the house shall abide by relevant laws and regulations. Reducing or exempting property fees does not mean that house owners can violate laws and regulations and do not use vacant houses for illegal activities, such as gambling and prostitution. Otherwise, cancel the qualification of property fee reduction and exemption.

If the developer fails to deliver the house, the property fee generated during this period will not be paid. Some property companies will charge property fees from owners on the grounds that the delivery time of houses has arrived. At this point, the owner has the right to refuse to pay. At this time, the responsibility lies in the developer delaying the construction period, and the owner does not need to pay the property fee.

If the supporting facilities are not up to standard, the preliminary property fee can be reduced or exempted. Therefore, when signing a contract with the developer's property company, we should pay attention to the description of supporting facilities in the contract. If the owner finds that the facilities are not as stated in the contract when he moves in, such as insufficient green area and worrying elevator quality, he can ask for the reduction or exemption of the property fee, or even ask for the return of the relevant property fee paid before until the supporting facilities are complete.

To sum up, the policy of reducing and exempting the vacant house property fee is to pay the vacant property management fee at 70% of the stipulated or agreed service fee standard, or collect the property fee according to the regulations of the relevant departments of provinces, cities and counties on reducing and exempting vacant houses. In China, there is no clear legal provision for the relief of vacant housing property fees, and the specific implementation still needs to be based on the contract between the two parties and relevant local policies.

Legal basis:

People's Republic of China (PRC) Civil Code

Article 943

Property service providers shall regularly disclose service matters, responsible personnel, quality requirements, charging items, charging standards, performance, use of maintenance funds and operating income of some owners in a reasonable way, and report to the owners' meeting and owners' committee.

Article 944 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.

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 of time; If the payment is not made within a reasonable period, the property service provider may bring a lawsuit or apply for arbitration.

The property service provider shall not stop power supply, water supply, heat supply and gas supply to demand payment of property fees.