Housing Maintenance Fund Hard to Apply

　　Here in China the housing maintenance fund is also known as the pension for apartments.

 

　　Apparently¹, the fund is to be used for the maintenance and repair of property.

 

　　However, applying to use the money is an extremely difficulty process.

 

　　Li Dong has the details.

 

　　Water leakages², aging equipment, malfunctioning³ elevators and other common problems like these have been causing headaches for property owners in recent years.

 

　　Repair and maintenance work within a community need to be covered by a compulsory⁴ fund which property owners contribute towards.

 

　　The housing maintenance fund is made up of deposits from property owners with a community.

 

　　Owners can only gain access to such funds after submitting an application which then needs to be approved by relevant authorities.

 

　　The procedure starts with lodging⁵ an application to the municipal housing fund management center.

 

　　Then the repair work is assessed by professional organizations.

 

　　After that, the housing fund management center will file the approved assessment⁶ report to the local real estate bureau.

 

　　The bureau then informs the bank where the maintenance fund is located to transfer the money to the property owner committee.

 

　　Zhang Daxian is the director of the property owner's committee of a residential⁷ area in Beijing.

 

　　He says getting access to the money is even more difficult because his community changed its name three times.

 

　　"Our community has used three names. Some of the property owners put money in the account which was established under the previous name of the community. So the money in the account under the previous community name can't be used because the community now has a new account, even though the money was deposited by the property owners in our community. I asked the authorities. They said the current policies don't support our application to use the money."

 

　　Zhao Yanling, is a member of a property owner's committee for a community in south Beijing, it began lodging an application in 2010.

 

　　"They refused our application. One of the excuses they gave is that many property owners didn't pay their share of the fund. The authorities want us to collect the money. But we are the property owner committee; we don't have the authority and capability⁸ to collect unpaid⁹ fees. That's why we can't use the fund."

 

　　Shu Kexin, is an expert on the protection of property owner's rights, he says the maintenance fund should be returned to property owners.

 

　　"The money in the maintenance fund belongs to the property owners. Property owners have the right to decide how to use it. The Property Law and related property management regulations entitle property owners to do so. The government department is right to prevent the money from being misused¹⁰. However, they should have no excuse to refuse giving the money to property owners."

 

　　Guan Zhenhua, director of a property owner's committee in Beijing says their maintenance fund can be better managed if the money were to be transferred to them.

 

　　"The maintenance work in the community can be carried out using the interest earned from the huge fund. Plus, if the fund is put in the bank, the money won't lose its value. But if we can use the money, we can increase the fund by using financing methods."

 

　　According to a report by the China Youth Daily, housing maintenance funds nationwide amount to hundreds of billions of yuan.

 

　　Gaining access to the money is already a complicated procedure.

 

　　And the way such a huge amount of money is managed still remains¹¹ unclear.

 

　　For CRI, I am Li Dong.

1 apparently   

adv.显然地；表面上，似乎

参考例句：

• An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
• He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。

2 leakages   

泄露； 漏( leakage的名词复数 )； 漏出； 漏出物； 渗漏物

参考例句：

• We can see that the flow has both leakages from it and injection into it. 我们就可以看到，这个流量既有漏出的又有注入的。
• We can see that the flow has both leakages from it and injections into it. 我们就可以看到，这个流量是既有漏出的又有注入的。

3 malfunctioning   

出故障

参考例句：

• But something was malfunctioning in the equipment due to human error. 但由于人为的错误，设备发生故障了。 来自超越目标英语 第4册
• Choke coils are useful for prevention of malfunctioning electronic equipment. 扼流圈对于防止电器设备的故障很有帮助。 来自互联网

4 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

5 lodging   

n.寄宿，住所；(大学生的)校外宿舍

参考例句：

• The bill is inclusive of the food and lodging. 账单包括吃、住费用。
• Where can you find lodging for the night? 你今晚在哪里借宿?

6 assessment   

n.评价；评估；对财产的估价，被估定的金额

参考例句：

• This is a very perceptive assessment of the situation.这是一个对该情况的极富洞察力的评价。
• What is your assessment of the situation?你对时局的看法如何？

7 residential   

adj.提供住宿的；居住的；住宅的

参考例句：

• The mayor inspected the residential section of the city.市长视察了该市的住宅区。
• The residential blocks were integrated with the rest of the college.住宿区与学院其他部分结合在了一起。

8 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

9 unpaid   

adj.未付款的，无报酬的

参考例句：

• Doctors work excessive unpaid overtime.医生过度加班却无报酬。
• He's doing a month's unpaid work experience with an engineering firm.他正在一家工程公司无偿工作一个月以获得工作经验。

10 misused   

v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 )；把…派作不正当的用途；虐待；滥用

参考例句：

• He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。