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Landlords are not police

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-03-04 07:46

Evil-doers should be picked up by law-enforcers rather than landlords, New leasing regulations misplace the power of law enforcement, and may cause negative outcomes, says an article on the website www.qianlong.com. The following is an excerpt:

The housing administrative bureau of Guangzhou recently ruled that landlords will be fined and have their leasing activities suspended if they rent homes to those who have carried out illegal business operations in-doors, especially those who pose threats to people's health, public security and environmental conditions.

To meet the requirement of this regulation, landlords must not only check the ID cards and related certificates of potential leasers, but also pay regular visits to the rented houses to ensure no illegal activity is taking place. To avoid fines, owners may be encouraged to sneak into homes to conduct personal investigations, thereby violating the privacy of their tenants.

It is true that some house renters turn a blind eye to illegal deeds of tenants, but most do not. The regulation asks too much from house renters, demanding they do the jobs of law-enforcers.

(China Daily 03/04/2009 page8)