ZHOU JING and his wife have been busy looking for an affordable rental apartment that would also enable his child to attend a public school in the neighborhood in Dalang Subdistrict, Longhua.

They had found an apartment in Huaqiaoxincun estate, but the homeowner refused to register his rental information with the subdistrict office. “It is understandable,” Zhou said. “Registering rental information with the housing rental management center would require the landlord to pay taxes. Nobody would do that.” The apartment Zhou rents is in a building with limited property rights.

Zhou had to look for other ways to obtain a registered tenancy contract. A property owner agreed to provide Zhou a registered contract at a cost of 3,000 yuan (US$441), which was too expensive for Zhou’s family.

Some property owners and property agencies take a chance and charge high prices for rental apartments inside school districts or issue fake rental records to families of school-age children, Thursday’s Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

Another father surnamed Dong was recently approached by a housing agent, who offered him a registered tenancy contract, which will help him apply to a public school in Nanshan District for his child.

Dong and his family live in their own apartment in another district, but Dong wants his child to attend a quality school in Nanshan. The registered tenancy contract he was offered would cost him more than 10,000 yuan, but having the contract wouldn’t guarantee a school slot because of other considerations in the application.

According to some property agents, the business involves property owners, tenants and property agents.

The city canceled the regulation that required all tenants to register when renting apartment in 2015 and the relevant department is now only capable of issuing certificates for those living in apartments with legal property rights.

For those who are living in housing with limited property rights, mostly in urban villages, it is hard to get registered tenancy contracts from the property owners because they want to avoid legal obligations. Thus, many turn to housing agencies and other property owners for fake tenancy contracts in order to get their children into schools they prefer.

A school principal who refused to be named said that many parents use fake contracts to apply for school slots, but since the schools can hardly verify each application, school slots have become more limited for the children who actually live in the designated school districts.

(Zhang Qian)