Promoting the private rented sector in metropolitan China: Key challenges and solutions

The private rented sector (PRS) plays an increasingly important role in accommodating young people and migrants in China’s metropolitan cities. However, the PRS in China is still underdeveloped, as evidenced by, e.g. a low degree of professionalisation, lack of basic rental laws and regulations, and poor housing experiences of tenants. The purpose of the current article is to identify the main challenges towards a well-functioning PRS, as perceived by Chinese local governments, landlords, and tenants, and to propose possible solutions to cope with these challenges. After reviewing both academic and grey literature and exploring the results of our previous research, we found that these challenges result from three main root causes, i.e. power imbalance between landlords and tenants, inadequate institutional arrangements, and path dependence on the past productivism model. Based on the analysis, a number of recommendations were proposed, including formalising the PRS, introducing regulations, setting minimum housing standards, and increasing public school availability to enhance equal citizenship rights between renters and homeowners.