Singles in Guangzhou cannot apply for affordable housing as the
city's draft regulation on housing states that citizens can only
apply as a family, reported the local paper New Express
Daily on Monday.
Boasting comparatively low prices, affordable housing, funded by
the government, aims to solve the housing problems of moderate to
low-income people. For this reason only families that meet certain
requirements, and can be defined as a low-income household, can
apply to purchase the special housing.
According to the draft regulation, which went into effect on
December 18, single people are not taken into consideration,
instead, people should apply as a family unit, including a husband
and wife, parents and unwed children.
In response to some public concern that some couples may
intentionally get a divorce in order to buy another affordable
house, the regulation states that all applicant families must have
every family member sign their name on the contract.
The draft regulation also stipulates that affordable housing can
only be sold five years after the day of signing the purchasing
contract. Previously, families could only sell their affordable
housings five years after the day they received their property
ownership certificate, which usually took some two years to come
through.
An additional clause in the draft also demands that families
should list their property valued at over 800 yuan ($US110) in
their application, which includes real estate, any privately owned
business, stocks or bonds, antiques, expensive jewellery etc.
(CRI January 2, 2008)