Blacklisted agent cheats tenants

A woman in Haidian district was left homeless Sunday after an unscrupulous real estate agency neglected to hand over the rent she paid to the property owner.

The Global Times found that the agency, Beijing Ruixiang House Real Estate Agency, seemingly has a long history of cheating tenants, and was blacklisted by Beijing Administration for Industry and Commerce (BAIC) in September.

The tenant, a woman surnamed Wang, 26, said she and her three roommates had rented a property in Mingguangcun residential community, Haidian district, in 2010. They gave Ruixiang 12,750 yuan ($2,035) on August 25 as the rent for the fourth quarter of the year, but the landlord, a woman surnamed Qiao, said she never received it.

"Qiao brought four tough young men to the house Saturday, and gave us two days to move out," Wang said Sunday.

Wang said that she has now been forced to stay with a friend.

Wu Chunhua, a lawyer in Beijing Zhongwen Law Firm, told the Global Times that the property owner has acted illegally in evicting the tenants.

"If there is no direct contract between the tenant and owner, and the agency doesn't pay the rent, then the agency has breached the contract," said Wu.

"The homeowner should sue the agency but does not have the right to evict the tenants," he said.

Wang has joined a Tencent QQ group with 70 members, who are all tenants "cheated" by Ruixiang in recent years.

Liu Shuang, 28, a member of the group, said that she has been unable to retrieve her deposit from Ruixiang.

"I went to its former location but found the agency had moved. I can't get back my 4,300-yuan deposit," she said.

Nine of some 8,000 Beijing-based real estate agencies inspected by BAIC were blacklisted last month, with Ruixiang topping the list for committing offences, the Beijing Times reported on September 11. The nature of the offences was unclear, as was any penalties meted out, as BAIC was unavailable on Sunday.

Su Dongzhao, legal representative of Beijing Mingyuan Real Estate Agency, Haidian district, told the Global Times that they have bought Ruixiang, without giving the date of the purchase.

Su confirmed they received the rent from Wang but did not give it to Qiao.

"It's because we have a contract dispute with Qiao. She can talk with me but should not evict her tenants," he said.

Qiao told the Global Times that she has no choice but to evict the tenants.

"Su told me the rent from Wang was taken by the former manager of Ruixiang, who has run away," she said.

According to Wang, Ruixiang is the third name of the agency where she originally rented Qiao's property, and the new agency is simply the fourth incarnation of the same company.

"Over the two years, the agency has changed its name and location four times," she said.

She added that she has reported the eviction to Xicheng district police where Ruixiang was previously registered, but there has been no progress yet.

In another case, a woman surnamed Zhang, who rented a house in Xicheng district through Beijing Meitang Real Estate Agency in May, was also evicted after she had paid six month's rent to the agency, China National Radio reported on August 3.

The agency allegedly failed to pass on the rent to the landlord, the report said.