Beijing city authorities ban Airbnb-style lettings in neighbourhoods near the Forbidden City
- The city said the new directive, which also places stricter controls on rentals in other parts of the capital, was motivated by security concerns
- Business owners rush to adapt before rules banning short-term lettings come into force in February
Beijing has banned Airbnb-style short-term lettings in the heart of the Chinese capital citing security concerns.
It is part of a move to tighten control of short-term apartment rentals across the city and to ensure safety in the “core central administrative zone”, an area of 92.5 sq km (35.7 sq miles) around the Forbidden City and the Zhongnanhai compound that houses the top Chinese leadership, according to a directive issued by four government agencies.
The new policy left business operations scrambling to adapt before the new rules come into force in February.
Lin Liang, who lets out a short-term property in Dongcheng, one of the districts affected by the ruling, said he faced the choice of shutting his business or offering longer-term lets to comply with the directive – both options that are likely to cost him money.
He pays 20,000 yuan (US$3,000) a month to rent a two-bedroom house with a yard in one of Beijing’s historic hutongs and has spent nearly 400,000 yuan renovating it to turn it into a self-service appartment. The property is too small for him to gain a hotel licence and he has not yet broken even but does not want to close the business.
“There is no definition of long-term so to be safe I probably would need to find a tenant for more than six months. I probably would need to cut the rent to find potential tenants, which means it will take longer to recover the costs,” Lin said.
