住房租赁合同的社会控制

Social Control of Residential Lease Contracts

不少国家对住房租赁合同进行一定的社会控制,主要有宽严两种模式:租金管制和解约限制。从社会经济效果看,租金管制有助于保障住宅权,也有助于避免贫富分区和促进社会和谐,但会干扰市场规律,因而成本较高。以解约限制为中心的控制则不会过度偏离市场,同时可有效减少租赁合同中当事人的机会主义行为。由于中国目前城市自有住房比例较高,住房市场的主要矛盾是现有住房不足以满足城市化需求,因此不宜进行严格的租金管制,但修订城市房地产管理法、合同法,限制出租人解除住房租赁合同的权利,同时规定租金调整参酌市场水平进行,将有助于维护住房租赁合同的稳定,减少出租、承租双方的策略性行为,降低围绕续约的讨价还价成本,增进社会福利。

Many countries impose a certain social control on residential lease contracts. There are two major models for such control: the stricter one of rent control and the more liberal one of restricting the lessor’s right to terminate a residential lease. In terms of socio-economic effect, the former model is conducive to ensuring the right to adequate housing, forestalling income-based residential segregation and promoting social harmony, but it comes at a cost because it interferes with the operation of market laws. The latter model does not involve undue intervention in the market, and can effectively reduce opportunistic behavior on the part of both parties to the contract. As the proportion of owner occupied housing in Chinese cities today is fairly high and the principal problem in the housing market is that the present stock of housing is inadequate to meet the needs of urbanization, strict rent controls are not advisable. However, revision of the Contract Law and the Urban Real Estate Administration Law with a view to restricting the lessor’s right to terminate a lease and stipulating rent adjustments in accordance with a market-oriented price index will help maintain the stability of residential leases, decrease strategic behavior on the part of the lessor and the lessee, reduce the bargaining cost of contract renewal, and improve social welfare.