2020, “Have you exploded yet? It has become the newest way of greeting among young people. In the second half of this year alone, there were more than 20 long-term rental apartments that “exploded,” with companies of all sizes scattered across the country. Behind the scenes, a group of young people are moving and defending their rights while they are still in a state of shock from the landlord’s “stickers” and power and water disruptions.
For them, the rental house “burst”, disrupting not only the order of life, but also the sense of security of living in another country.
“Did you explode? “
Qiuqiu, a tenant of Beijing’s Eggshells Apartments, received an eviction notice from her landlord last week. Fearing that the apartment would be repossessed by Eggshells, the landlord changed the electronic lock and code on the front door. Within a few days, a new agent came to see the apartment with a new tenant.
That morning, while Qiuqiu was still sleeping, two unfamiliar faces suddenly arrived, checking out every corner of the house. They didn’t seem to know that Qiuqiu was home, and one of them went into the bathroom. One of them walked into the bathroom, and when the toilet was running, Qiuqiu had the feeling that her space was “invaded.
After viewing the house, the agent sat in the living room and smoked a cigarette, filling the entire house with smoke and choking her. She suddenly felt that the house was no longer under her control, and at the same time, her dignity was also lost.
When the agent finally got up and left, Qiuqiu plucked up her courage, chased her to the elevator, and said to the agent, “Can you please stop smoking in the house and leave as soon as you’re done looking at the house? “
To use a popular term, the long term rental apartment in Qiuqiu is suspected to have “exploded”. The platform’s cash flow breaks down, it loses touch, and even runs away, unable to pay the rent and deposit. For their own benefit, landlords will evict tenants and repossess their properties, even though it is not legal to do so.
Compared to this kind of blatant intrusion, the other kind of “eviction” is more subtle.
Zhang Linlin, a tenant of Shanghai Eggshells, discovered the problem when she came home from work: her internet connection was down. She contacted the eggshell housekeeper, but got no reply. Her boyfriend, who came back with her, was in a hurry. He works as an auditor and was about to deal with an important company document in the interim. The signal in the neighborhood was bad, and the cell phone hotspot was not working. The two of them sat on the sofa and looked at each other, but without internet, it was as if they were cut off from the rest of the world.
A tenant looking for an apartment in Hainan City experienced a water and electricity outage. That day he invited friends over for dinner, two people went to the supermarket to purchase a large bag of ingredients, including fish and shrimp, carried to the kitchen to clean up only to find that there was no water. He went into the bathroom, turned on the light, but it was not on; he turned on the faucet, but no water came out. He wanted to go to the bathroom, but thought he couldn’t flush, so he held back.
Although there are no signs of a “minefield,” since August, Chen Xiaoya, a tenant in Beijing, has been receiving messages from friends who forwarded her the following A link to a news article on “Long Term Rentals Explode” and asking her. “Have you exploded yet? “She did not take it seriously, until November 17, she received a text message from Weizhong Bank, which said: “In case of forced evacuation, water and electricity disconnection, we recommend that you maintain your legitimate rights and interests through legal channels.
The text message said: “If you encounter forced eviction, water and electricity disconnection, we recommend that you safeguard your legitimate rights and interests through legal means; if you have been forced to move out, you can register your information. Weizhong Bank binds eggshells, providing tenants with “rent loans “The tenant pays rent to the rental platform for one year, and the platform pays the landlord on a monthly basis.
The tenant pays rent to the rental platform for one year, and the platform pays the landlord on a monthly basis, which is the so-called “long lease, short payment”. “Leverage”. And a significant number of tenants have been guided by the platform to use rental loans, monthly repayments to the bank, which feels like a monthly payment, but in fact has been prepaid for a year’s rent.
That night, Chen Xiaoya didn’t sleep well at night, tossing and turning, comforting herself: “live to the day of eviction by the landlord. “
2020, “Have you exploded yet? It has become the latest way for young people to greet each other. In the second half of this year alone, there were more than 20 long-term rental apartments involved in the “mine explosion,” with companies of all sizes scattered across the country. Behind the scenes, a group of young people are moving and defending their rights while they are still in a state of shock from the landlord’s “stickers” and power and water outages.
For them, the rental house “mine”, disrupting not only the order of life, but also the sense of security of living in another country.
“It’s pretty decent.”
Renting an apartment is the first lesson for newly graduated young people entering society.
After graduation in June this year, she came to Shanghai, a completely new city, and looked for an Internet company to do operations work. At first, she rented a 15-square-meter room and shared the kitchen and bathroom with her roommate. In the summer, bugs flew out of the trash cans.
The first time I saw her, I thought it was nothing, but once I was on video with my parents, my mom cried: “For more than 20 years at home, my parents took care of her like a treasure and went to the countryside to be frustrated. “Mom felt that the big city life is hard, not earn much, living is not good, want her to come home to develop.
But Zhang Linlin believes that the economic downturn in the Northeast, Shanghai’s job prospects are obviously better, she wants to “fight for it”, to stay in Shanghai. To avoid worrying her mother, she and her boyfriend rented an entire apartment in an eggshell apartment in August, with more space and a cleaner house.
When she signed the contract, the housekeeper introduced to her that the cleaning lady would come to her house twice a month to clean the apartment, and any problems with the room could be reported in the eggshell apartment app. A rent loan and a monthly payment of 4,000 yuan to Micro Focus Bank were all that was needed.
The apartment briefly convinced her mother – there was a market, a small park, and a lake not far away where she could go for a walk with her boyfriend in the summer evenings. As she lived here, she gradually felt at home, the embrace of the big city opening up to a girl from out of town.
But now that feeling had completely disappeared, and was replaced by panic and turmoil – the landlord still hadn’t shown up, but the Internet was down, and the next thing she knew, the water and electricity seemed to be out. She voluntarily terminated her lease, and the housekeeper informed her that she had to move out immediately and take possession of the apartment the next day.
Chen Xiaoya still has a glimmer of hope that her landlord didn’t show up and that there are no problems with her room. She speculated that perhaps her landlord had not yet noticed anything unusual.
In June of this year, Chen Xiaoya graduated with a master’s degree and worked as a content editor for a new media company in Beijing. For the first time after graduation, she rented an apartment in an eggshell: zero brokerage fee and “deposit one pay one”, which made her, who had just graduated and couldn’t pay a quarter’s rent all at once, very excited! .
She was interested in a room in an upscale neighborhood with good lighting, underfloor heating, a better location, and only a 10-minute walk to the shopping district and her office.
Under the guidance of her “housekeeper,” she was offered a 16-square-meter room where she would wake up in the morning with sunlight shining through the window on her blanket and a 12-month “rent credit.
She felt that she was a “common sense” person and would never touch a small platform or company, after all, there had been a lot of news about long term rental apartments in the past. Eggshells is described as having “nearly 400,000 rooms under management”. “Serving over 1 million customers” and listed on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this year. In her imagination, how could a company of this size just fall apart?
After moving in, she was so satisfied that she showed her new place to her friends on WeChat: “Super Big!” “I’m so happy in a high-end neighborhood. “
Chen Xiaoya “won’t substitute herself in the story of the Northern Expat,” she firmly believes that “The house is a rental but the life isn’t.” When she first started working, she put up $3,380 – a third of her salary – to pay the rent, and felt it was worth it.
She bought a new, soft mattress, two plush rugs, new bookshelves, new paintings, and even an electric piano to make the space feel more like a “home! “It’s a good thing that you’re not in the news. And I’m “pretty decent,” avoiding the news about the northern drifters. “Sleeping in the basement” “Partition torn down “The miserable.
When she received the text message from Micro Focus Bank, Chen Xiaoya’s heart thudded, if she moved, what would she do with her piano, could the cargo puller fit?
The only people left in the rights group are “the ones who post ads.”
Before being evicted by her landlord, Qiuqiu saw on Weibo the news of tenants lining up at the Eggshells headquarters to register for the refund of their deposits. The next morning, at 8:30 am, she rushed from the 5th ring road to the 2nd ring road and followed the line to see if the loan could be cancelled at the same time.
An hour later, the staff went to work and told her: the loan could not be cancelled, but if the landlord came to evict people, he could call the police, “the police station will cooperate with the eggshells”.
Three days later, in the afternoon, Qiuqiu and her roommate were at home, and the landlord and her husband came with the property and the new agent, and five people knocked on the door for half an hour. Autumn didn’t want to open the door, but they didn’t want to leave. The “knocking” sound penetrated the walls and never stopped, and she became more and more agitated and began to feel afraid. Finally, she called the police.
The conflict subsided for a while, but Qiuqiu was too disturbed and decided to move out.
As early as April, there was news of a thunderstorm in Wuhan’s “Youk Yijia”. Xu Leixin was proactive and entered the rights protection group. There were 200 people in the group, but by mid-April there were 370. In the months that followed, there were more and more victims, and now, there are about 1300 people in the three groups.
According to his observation, most of the rights groups of long lease apartments are the same.
When the long-term rental apartments were first suspected of exploding, a large number of victims flooded in, mostly young people who had recently graduated, to share their experiences and discuss measures to protect their rights. Some said that they had already terminated their contracts with the platform, showing a successful refund, but the rent and deposit had not been returned to their bank cards. Others, like Qiuqiu, have moved out, but the loan is still there.
But it didn’t take long for people to realize that when they contacted the platform’s customer service, it was always answered by robots, and when they called to complain, the phone was immediately disconnected. The rights group gradually went quiet. In a few months, the only people left in the group will be “those who send small advertisements”.
Not only tenants, but also housekeepers and cleaning aunts disappeared from the group, and landlords and long-stay apartment employees met each other.
Some cleaning aunts said they hadn’t been paid for two months, and some suppliers said they were owed tens of millions by the platform.
At the time of the suspected explosion, HR Su Xue had been owed four months’ wages, adding up to nearly 20,000 yuan. She graduated in 2016 and worked for 4 years with no savings in hand. In order to maintain these months of life, she owed more than 10,000 yuan for her credit cards, flower chants, and debit chants. The budget for ordering takeout every day at noon dropped to less than 10 yuan, and she didn’t buy anything on Double Eleven.
Since August, the directors of her Wuhan branch have disappeared one after another, and the company’s “structure is still in place,” as are a huge number of small groups. “But if someone discusses salary issues in a small group, the group is immediately disbanded.” She went to the Xi’an headquarters with her colleagues to defend her rights, but to no avail, and was chased away by the security guard at the entrance.
Back in late October, people hadn’t given up hope. The company’s management told the stewards to first appease the landlord, who would then have the tenant’s water and electricity cut off, or change the locks to force the tenant out. Tenants “are vulnerable; they are too busy working every day to have time for such things. When the tenants come to the company to defend their rights, they are promised that they will be given six months to pay the rent.
But Su Xue found that the rent was not refunded, which was just a “temporary strategy to stabilize the tenants”, and the platform turned the conflict between itself and the landlord, between itself and the tenants, into a conflict between the landlord and the tenants.
The landlord moved the toilet.
Landlords want to evict tenants in three main steps: the first step is to disconnect water, electricity, and internet; the second step is to put a “sticker” on the door, telling the tenant to move out within a few days; and the third step is to lead the new agent to the door to evict the tenant.
The third step was to lead the new agent to the door to evict the tenant. Autumn learned all three steps. In the end, the negotiation with the landlord was quite peaceful, and the other party agreed to give her a few days’ grace and let her move out again at the end of the month. The landlord said that the tenant is the victim, “but I am the biggest victim, they lost a small part of it, and by the end of the month I have more than 10,000 losses,” “Let’s all understand each other and move as soon as possible, I have a family and a mortgage to pay. “
Qiuqiu is a bit aggrieved, how can she pay back her 20,000 yuan loan?
In Hainan, some of the tenants of the “City House” are against the landlord. It’s a great way to get the most out of your money. “The trouble was particularly bad.”
One tenant revealed that a landlord changed the locks on the house while the tenant was at work, and when the tenant returned and called the police directly, the landlord was detained for five days. Other tenants still bite the bullet and live on after having their water and electricity cut off. Some people refuse to leave the room even after they finally move out, and go on a rampage as soon as a new tenant arrives.
Other landlords have even dismantled toilets and moved them out of their homes to get rid of tenants.
The war between landlords and tenants is still going on. At the same time, it was rumored that it would be acquired by My Love Home, and at one point, Eggshell’s stock price rose dramatically.
Before her life came to a complete standstill, Zhang Linlin and her boyfriend found an apartment across the street and moved overnight, until 3 a.m. The two of them pushed their suitcases and moved from the house to the house. The two of them pushed suitcases and a cart borrowed from a rookie post station back and forth to move, not knowing how many trips they made. In the midnight Shanghai, they felt isolated and helpless.
Zhang Linlin lamented, “I was hit hard right out of society. Not only was her mood damaged, but she also carried a loan of more than 40,000 yuan, and according to her income level and spending habits of about 4,000 yuan per month, “2 years can’t save that much money! “.
She didn’t dare to ask her parents for help, “Our family is not very rich, my parents also work, and other families might have some spare time, but my parents don’t have it all year round. If you care about your parents asking for money, you can think of how hard they work and how much money they have to wipe my ass for me. “
Another person who fled in a hurry was Xu Leixin, who found another room in the same neighborhood where he had just evicted his peers.
Saying goodbye to the “lake view room,” the new apartment was almost half the size. Things were stacked haphazardly, like a messy grocery store, and there was a bed in the middle. I’m not in the mood to clean up,” Xu Leixin said, “The environment is worse, the rent has gone up, and the mentality has changed. “
For the first time, the idea that buying a house is important came to him.
In the advocacy group, some people bought a second-hand house directly after surrendering the lease, and moved in with their own bags. But there were many more young people who could not afford to buy a home and were envious of it while looking for a new place to live.
Chen Xiaoya also has deep feelings about this. In the past, when she talked to her friends about housing, she would say, “Beijing’s housing prices are so high, it’s good to keep renting,” so there’s no need to tie the mortgage to yourself. But now she fully understands why having a “house with your name on the real estate certificate” is an obsession for many people. When you rent, everything you buy is about buying your imagination.
It is interesting to note that long term rental apartments were originally created to provide a quality alternative to buying a home, especially to provide stable housing for newcomers to the city. Today, a large number of long-term rental apartments have been transformed into leasing finance and leverage games, and have instead become “thunderbolts” that alarm young people.
Right now, the problems of credit and interest remain unresolved. Some people in Shanghai’s advocacy group said, “Will this affect the purchase of real estate? Will there be more and more interest and loans?
On the day of the rights defense, Qiuqiu mentioned the loan from Micro Focus Bank, and was told that she could unlink her bank card from Micro Focus Bank to prevent automatic deductions. Although the loan can’t be canceled yet, Eggshells will “pay back the bank” by April next year.
Wezhong Bank also sent a text message saying, “Your credit will not be affected until at least March 31, 2021.
After unbundling her card, Qiuqiu still felt uneasy. “It says that your credit will not be affected until the end of March, but what about after March 31? “
On the other hand, since mid-November, Eggshells Apartments has been posting messages on Weibo saying “We are not bankrupt and will not run away! Please don’t believe the rumors! “”True love is invincible! Thank you all! Be there! “Not forgetting to remind everyone that the weather is getting colder and the epidemic may recur, so we still need to pay attention to protection! “.
In the comment section, users clocked in daily. The young people have mixed feelings, feeling unhappy and panicky, but also hoping that nothing happens to the eggshell apartment and they can recover their losses.
Some said, “I just came back from the headquarters, the shell is holding on. “Others say, “I even paid the water and gas bill yesterday, Eggshell is holding up well. “
This “mine”, which has not been officially declared to have exploded, has become the last hope of those young people.
(Chen Xiaoya, Qiuqiu, Xu Leixin, Zhang Linlin, and Su Xue are pseudonyms in this article)
Reference.
[1] New Culture Business: Undercover 5000 people eggshell apartment rights protection group, the situation is a hundred times worse than expected!
[2] Securities Daily: Long-term rental apartments line up to “explode”, head players lose 6.3 billion in three years, total liabilities exceed 9 billion
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