If you want to rent a place, or have a place to rent, during the 2008 Olympics, good advice comes in the form of the book House Renting in Beijing, 2008.

 

Beijing Homelink Company, one of the five real-estate brokers recommended by the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG), yesterday issued the first handbook of its kind to help visitors, including those from abroad, rent apartments or houses in Beijing.

 

The manual also helps those who want to sublet their homes to visitors arriving for the Games on package tours.

 

The book, which divides the Beijing city into nine districts according to the location of sports venues, offers detailed information on traffic, tourist sites and public service facilities in each of the areas.

 

It also lists reference prices for different types of apartments or houses in different districts.

 

For example, the book says the current rent for a two-bedroom apartment near the National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest, is about 2,000 yuan (US$260) a month.

 

However, the figure may rise to at least 10 times the current price during the Games, according to Jin Yusong, deputy general manager of Homelink.

 

He said his company will frequently update the book with the latest rental values.

 

In addition, the handbook also explains the rent and lease procedures: Under current regulations, a foreigner should obtain a residence permit from the local government before he/she rents an apartment in Beijing, which means foreign reporters and tourists coming for short term cannot rent a place.

 

But Jin said he believes the authorities will issue new rules to streamline and simplify rent and lease procedures.

 

"A simplified procedure will help ease the accommodation shortage during the Games," he said.

 

According to estimates by the Beijing Tourism Administration, about 550,000 overseas tourists and spectators and 2.58 million domestic visitors will arrive in Beijing for the Games next summer.

 

But there are only 700 star-rated hotels in the city with a collective capacity of 200,000 beds. Even with another 100 star-rated hotels to be built next year and some 4,000 unrated hotels, the city may still lack the resources to accommodate all the visitors.

 

The organizers of the 2004 Athens Olympics encouraged city residents to sublet their homes to visitors to ease the accommodation crunch.

 

Jin said the handbook will be given free at the company's outlets and nearby communities in Beijing.

 

The book is in Chinese, but it has English, Japanese and Korean translations for its "rent and lease procedure" section.

 

Jin said his company will soon release an English version of the book and make it available online.

 

(China Daily August 10, 2007)