The house has been vacant for more than 6 months, can the property fee be discounted? How to pay the property fee of the vacant house has always been a topic of concern, and there have been several areas in China to explore the trial.Recently,Tang Daizhong, an associate professor and deputy director of the Department of Construction Management and Real Estate of Tongji SEM,was interviewed by CCTV CCTV Finance on the topic of vacant house property fees and active land auction market.

For some vacant houses, the owners may not live in them for more than a few days a year, yet they still have to pay the property fees. Such a situation is now changing. Recently, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province and other places announced that for residential properties that have been continuously vacant for more than 6 months, part of the property fees can be reduced. According to the latest policy in Zhenjiang, for ordinary residential properties that have been vacant for more than 6 months, the property public service fees during the vacant period shall be paid at 70% of the stipulated standard. In addition, some neighborhoods have also included villas and other housing types in the scope of preferential policies. Previously, in Zhenjiang, there was also a 30% discount on property fees for vacant houses, but the preferential period was 24 months. After that period, the full amount of the property fees had to be paid. The new policy has canceled this time limit.

Not only Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, Qingdao, Shandong Province, Lanzhou, Gansu Province and other places have also introduced a discounted property fee for vacant houses.

In 2024, Qingdao refined the implementation rules for the management of property service charges. For houses that have been continuously vacant for more than six months, the owners can inform the property service enterprises in writing. After mutual confirmation, from the date of vacancy, the property public service fee, including the elevator operation fee, shall be charged at a 40% discount (i.e., 60% of the original amount). In addition, in principle, for the determination of a vacant house, water and electrical appliances should not be in use. If the two parties can negotiate other standards, their agreement will also be respected.

In Lanzhou, Gansu Province, for houses that have been continuously vacant for more than six months, the property fees can be paid at 70% of the original amount after the application.

Tang Daizhong said that Zhenjiang, Qingdao and Lanzhou give different percentages of property fee reduction for vacant homes. The reason is to stabilize the market, while reducing the cost of housing holdings.

In addition, Tang Daizhong was interviewed on the phenomenon of warming property transactions and active land auction market in Shanghai. He said that the (real estate) market in 2025 should be a structural recovery after stabilizing the decline. Moreover, the favorable policies across the board have brought new growth momentum to the entire market.