Making it happen

The difficulties authorities face in enforcing the ban is also a concern for those in the property industry.

"The regulation is basically saying every person should live in an individual room, which goes against the current market trend," said Chen Baocun, assistant secretary-general of the National Real Estate Managers' Alliance.

He said he feels the rules will be virtually impossible to implement as long as there is huge demand for capsule apartments. Administrations will have to invest time and manpower to prevent illegal conversions and group rentals, he said. "Once there is a loophole, the fish will escape the net."

Li at the UIBE agreed and added: "There are 2.4 million apartments for rent in the capital alone. Checking door to door would be a massive job."

In fact, eight districts of Beijing have prohibited room conversions to create cubicles since in September 2009.

A real estate agent in Beijing who did not want to be identified explained that large companies like the one he works for have gradually stopped building capsule units since the 2009 regulation, "although I can find you one if you are really in need".

Xu Ying said she has experienced the slow implementation of anti-conversion regulations firsthand. Her family used to live in a rented apartment in Beijing's Haidian district but was forced to move after the owner of the property above carried out conversion work.

"In 2008, my neighbor upstairs built 12 partitions in their 160-square-meter apartment and leased the place to about 20 people," said the professor of journalism at Renmin University of China.

"Because of the large number of residents, the front doors of the residential block and the apartment were always open. Outsiders were free to enter the building," she said.

Worse was to come. In April 2009, a sewage line to the property above broke and spilled into Xu's home.

Although she is no longer living in the block, Xu is suing her neighbor for 117,000 yuan in compensation and is demanding the number of renters is reduced. The case is still awaiting an outcome and Xu said she has grown impatient with administrative departments passing the buck.

"I've complained to several offices, including the mayor's, but all I've got back are excuses that it's another department's responsibility," she said. "If the government keeps doing nothing, this new rule will be nothing more than wastepaper."

According to the details of the regulation, the move is aimed at protecting tenants' rights and safety. Landlords will be barred from issuing rent hikes and could be liable in the event of an accident or fire.

An information official at the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development declined to comment when contacted by China Daily. However, in an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Jiang Wanrong, deputy director of the ministry's real estate market supervision, said conversions of houses and apartments affected the structures and posed potential dangers. In addition, tenants' rights cannot be guaranteed under such circumstances, which could prove a drain on public resources if it leads to a spike in disputes, he said.

"Renting a house or apartment and sharing with others is allowed," he added. "Dividing rooms into several units to rent to groups of people is not."

(China Daily January 10, 2011)