TENANTS are set to get more control of the prices they pay for property maintenance services following a review by the city government.

Guidance for each property management service fee will be provided in an effort to regulate the market, the municipal pricing bureau announced over the weekend.

The bureau has drafted guidelines for the cost of five services including comprehensive management, facilities’ maintenance, cleaning, garden maintenance and security. The prices are graded into five levels according to the service level provided. For example, the price for garden maintenance varies between 0.14 yuan (US$0.018) per square meter and 0.19 yuan per square meter according to the frequency.

The pricing bureau at present only has guidelines for overall property management prices. “The current guidelines were made in 1997. The whole property management market has undergone a lot of changes in the past 10 years, and so it’s necessary to make changes,” said Yuan Fang, an official with the pricing bureau.

Property management companies are required to charge fees according to the government-set price guidelines before residents can set up a property owners’ association to negotiate prices.

Yuan expects the new price guidelines to help property owners to negotiate prices with management companies.

(Deng Hanneng)