Property management sector could do with an overhaul

In recent years, property management disputes have been on the rise in China.

According to the Supreme People's Court, in the first quarter of 2026, courts in China handled 294,700 such cases, up 37.28 percent from the same period last year.

But the actual number of complaints might be even higher. Whenever a property management dispute arises, people tend to first complain to the community committees, dial the consumer hotline number 12345, or visit relevant departments under the local government. Approaching courts is often the last resort.

More than 67 percent of the over 1.4 billion Chinese population now lives in cities and towns and about half of them dwell in apartments built in the past three decades or so.

When hundreds or thousands of people live in the same complex, property management becomes a necessity. Unlike in many other countries where house owners have to pay a huge sum in real estate taxes, those in China are not required to do so as they don't own the land on which their apartment buildings are built.

However they usually have to pay a significant management fee to the service-providing companies.

Depending on the locality and service quality, the fee could range from 2,000 to 7,000 yuan ($295-$1,033) a year for a two-bedroom apartment.

In the early years after house owners move into an apartment complex, the property management service is usually satisfactory, thanks to the good condition of public facilities and the fact that the fees are paid in a timely manner. With the passage of time, however, quality dwindles.

Some house owners first complain to the property management companies about the dirty corridors, stinking garbage bins, dripping water from the ceilings, poor maintenance and high repair charges.

They also complain about the shortage of parking space and the lack of transparency regarding what the management companies earn by renting out the basements and/or parking spaces or allowing other companies to paste ads inside the elevators.

Failing to get satisfactory answers from the management companies and seeing no improvement in service quality, some homeowners stop paying property management fees. In some extreme cases, almost half the residents of an apartment complex have followed suit.

With the flow of money curtailed, the related property management companies cannot afford to take care of the apartment complexes anymore, even doing away with the support staff members who were doing some work, however unsatisfactory.

Thereafter, those house owners and management companies start suing each other, leading to prolonged litigation as both sides make a strong case against the other.

Reports suggest that in some apartment complexes, house owners set up their own committees and removed the existing property management companies, replacing them with new operators, who worked efficiently for a few years before a rerun of the same story.

Efforts have been made by both the central and local governments to standardize property management operations.

Relevant national regulations have been revised at least three times in the past two decades, with further adjustments expected to be made.

Each revision made clear the duties and obligations of both the house owners and the property management companies. However, the rising number of complaints and court cases shows that there is still a long way to go before many property management companies work efficiently, making the house owners happy.

In the interest of the masses, the arms of the owners' committees should be strengthened under the supervision of local community committees — a grassroots governmental organization.

At present, many apartment complexes have yet to establish owners' committees.

However, where they exist, there have been reports of some owners' committee members being bribed by property management companies to keep their mouths shut regarding certain irregularities.

The good news is that the discipline inspection bodies at different levels have started probing into malpractices related to people's livelihood, including in the property management sector.

The sector should be regulated in a way that property management companies make their income, expenses, and the services they provide more transparent to the fee payers.

This will help avoid many misunderstandings and disputes, bringing relief to judges and those at the consumer hotline receiving complaint calls.