SHENZHEN has fined 32 owners of subsidized housing who broke the law when purchasing, subleasing and/or lending their housing to others.

    The city started implementing a credit system on applications for affordable housing two years ago. Since then, the city has completed 51 government-subsidized housing projects that provide more than 60,000 apartments for local residents.

    The projects include nine affordable housing projects with 14,328 apartments for sale and 42 projects with 45,762 apartments for rent.

    Among the 32 violators, 21 lied on their applications for purchasing the apartments and 11 illegally subleased or lent their housing to others, according to the city’s housing bureau.

    Six homeowners have paid off the fines and seven will pay them in installments. The remaining 19 families have either filed a lawsuit against the housing authority or applied for deferment of payment.

    One of the violators surnamed Zhu was given the maximum punishment of 200,000 yuan (US$32,560) in fines for forging his residency information. The case is in the process of litigation.

    In addition to fines, violators’ apartments might be reclaimed by the government and their right to apply for affordable housing may be deprived permanently, depending on the severity of the violations.

    (Zhang Yang)