If you want to rent a place, or have a place to rent, during the
2008 Olympics, good advice comes in the form of the book House
Renting in Beijing, 2008.
Beijing Homelink Company, one of the five real-estate brokers
recommended by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of
the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), yesterday issued the first handbook of
its kind to help visitors, including those from abroad, rent
apartments or houses in Beijing.
The manual also helps those who want to sublet their homes to
visitors arriving for the Games on package tours.
The book, which divides the Beijing city into nine districts
according to the location of sports venues, offers detailed
information on traffic, tourist sites and public service facilities
in each of the areas.
It also lists reference prices for different types of apartments
or houses in different districts.
For example, the book says the current rent for a two-bedroom
apartment near the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest,
is about 2,000 yuan (US$260) a month.
However, the figure may rise to at least 10 times the current
price during the Games, according to Jin Yusong, deputy general
manager of Homelink.
He said his company will frequently update the book with the
latest rental values.
In addition, the handbook also explains the rent and lease
procedures: Under current regulations, a foreigner should obtain a
residence permit from the local government before he/she rents an
apartment in Beijing, which means foreign reporters and tourists
coming for short term cannot rent a place.
But Jin said he believes the authorities will issue new rules to
streamline and simplify rent and lease procedures.
"A simplified procedure will help ease the accommodation
shortage during the Games," he said.
According to estimates by the Beijing Tourism Administration,
about 550,000 overseas tourists and spectators and 2.58 million
domestic visitors will arrive in Beijing for the Games next
summer.
But there are only 700 star-rated hotels in the city with a
collective capacity of 200,000 beds. Even with another 100
star-rated hotels to be built next year and some 4,000 unrated
hotels, the city may still lack the resources to accommodate all
the visitors.
The organizers of the 2004 Athens Olympics encouraged city
residents to sublet their homes to visitors to ease the
accommodation crunch.
Jin said the handbook will be given free at the company's
outlets and nearby communities in Beijing.
The book is in Chinese, but it has English, Japanese and Korean
translations for its "rent and lease procedure" section.
Jin said his company will soon release an English version of the
book and make it available online.
(China Daily August 10, 2007)