Research On The Legal Regulations Of Online Short-term Rental Transactions

Since the Communist Party of China(CPC)convened the Fifth Plenary Session of its 18 th Central Committee in 2015,which put forward to develop the sharing economy,the sharing economy has experienced explosive growth in our country,and the scale of development has been expanding.Short-term rental transactions online is one of the representative sharing economy model in the accommodation industry,with the continuous improvement of living standards,people pay more attention to the economical and personalized needs of housing during traveling.Comparing with the traditional hotels,the consumers got personalized accommodation services from short-term rental online,they can also choose the right house according to their needs,which makes up the vacancy in the accommodation market.Short-term rental transactions online is one manifestation of the sharing economy,which is used to match idle houses with tenants in need through the platform,to achieve optimal allocation of resources.However the guidance of the State Council and its ministries,PRC on promoting the development of the sharing economy is macroscopical,so there are no national special laws and regulations to regulate this industry;some laws and regulations can be referenced and applicable but haven’t formed a system;the diversity of participating entities and the complexity of legal relationships are there as well;all leads to many problems such as market access,transaction security,liability issues,and tax management about short-term rental transactions online.Firstly,the paper analyzes the typical cases that occurred about houses’ transactions through short-term rental online in recent years,and summarizes the focused issues reflected in them,which mainly includes the irregular market access system,not perfecting legal regulation in the transactions process,and the incomplete regulatory system.Secondly,the paper analyzes the legal definition,target selection and functional return of the online short-term rental transaction market access,then combines with the specific measures for short-term rental platform companies,house resource providers,and online listing market access regulations;it is proposed that the market entry threshold of short-term rental platform enterprises should be clarified,the market access standards of housing providers should be improved,and the platform’s field audit system should be strengthened to ensure the healthy and stable development of the industry.In addition,the paper studies the specific regulations of housing online short-term rental transactions from three aspects: general regulation,credit management,protection of tenants’ rights.which analyzes the level certification and periodic inspection of the houses in the transaction,and the identification and handling of violations;the paper put forward the corresponding countermeasures in view of the credit management measures in the three stages of online booking,offline check-in and user mutual evaluation;and clarifies the risks in online short-term rental transaction that faced by the tenants,the orientation of tenants’ rights and interests protection.At last,the paper analyzes the regulatory system of transactions in details from the supervision of government authorities,industry associations and the platform itself.Combining with China’s online short rent industry supervision practice,it puts forward suggestions that the supervision concept should be changed,the scientific coordination of supervision methods should be emphasized,the auxiliary supervision of industry associations and the platform itself should be strengthened,and the supervision innovation should be promoted through coordinated supervision.