THE city’s legislative affairs office released a draft of Shenzhen rental housing management regulations Monday, which specifies that landlords are not allowed to divide an apartment into small flats for lease, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported Thursday.

According to the draft regulations, the leasable area for each tenant in a rental apartment should be at least 6 square meters. The non-living areas of an apartment, such as kitchen, toilet and underground storeroom, shall not be used for lease independently, and the landlord should notify the tenant about the maximum number of people that can live in the apartment in the contract.

The city’s rental housing management department will put into use a registration system that gives each rental apartment a code number, which contains detailed information about the apartment.

The landlords should sign a liability statement at local police stations within 30 days of signing a leasing contract with a tenant to clarify each side’s responsibilities for fire-control, public security and family planning, according to the regulations.

Landlords will be fined between 5,000 and 10,000 yuan (US$725 and 1,450) for violating the rules, while realty agencies will be fined 1,000 yuan if they refuse to rectify any irregularities, according to the report.

(Zhang Yang)