The property management companies are in a fight. One side is withdrawing from the site while the other is "grabbing territory".
Now, there are more and more conflicts arising around property management issues.
On one hand, property management companies are actively withdrawing from some residential communities, which has raised concerns in the industry about large - scale growth and profits. On the other hand, they are making efforts to expand their business in existing communities, frequently clashing with the original property management companies.
01
At the beginning of July, a so - called "showdown" between two property management companies took place at the entrance of the Oceanwide Wanhe Four Seasons Community in Hanjiang District, Wuhan. Both sides gathered over 100 people to compete for control of the community's main entrance.
Both parties in the conflict are well - known enterprises in the industry: Vanke Property and Oceanwide Property. Their large - scale conflict attracted the attention of relevant authorities.
Image source: Internet
Subsequently, the Wuhan Housing and Urban Renewal Bureau, the Hanjiang District Housing and Urban Renewal Bureau of Wuhan, and the Changqing Sub - district Office of the People's Government of Hanjiang District, Wuhan intervened in the incident for investigation.
On July 29, the Hanjiang District Housing and Urban Renewal Bureau of Wuhan officially announced the investigation results: "During the voting organized by the homeowners' committee, the 'Wuhan Homeowners' Decision - making Electronic Voting System' was not used as instructed by the sub - district and community. In the telephone voting, the identities of homeowners were not accurately verified. There were cases such as non - homeowners voting and offline proxy voting without authorization. As of July 25, 2025, the homeowners' committee was still supplementing and submitting materials related to the process of convening the homeowners' meeting."
Image source: Internet
The official investigation revealed the key reason for the conflict: The homeowners' committee of the community organized a vote to replace the property management company. The original property management company, Oceanwide Yijia, questioned the legality of the homeowners' meeting procedure and refused to hand over to the winning bidder (Vanke Property). Ignoring the differences, the homeowners' committee unilaterally notified Vanke Property to enter the community. At the beginning of July, Vanke Property, led by some homeowners, attempted to take over the community, thus triggering this conflict.
Regarding this incident, some homeowners said, "It's been a whole month, and the homeowners' committee still can't provide all the compliant materials for the re - election vote. They are always looking for faults and scolding the property management company in the group."
Some homeowners also questioned that the conditions in the tender were tailored for Vanke.
Some netizens commented that a large number of property management companies claim that the property management business is unprofitable, but they just won't leave.
Image source: Internet
02
Since the beginning of this year, conflicts caused by property management handovers have occurred multiple times.
On March 1, when the new property management company, Poly Property, selected by the homeowners' committee of the Nanguo Garden Community in Guangzhou was about to enter the community, it was blocked by the old property management company, Ruihua Property. Ruihua Property questioned the procedure of the homeowners' meeting, considered the voting results invalid, and refused to leave. A large number of homeowners gathered to support the entry of the new property management company. The scene was quite chaotic for a while.
Subsequently, Ruihua Property sued the homeowners' committee, stating that the homeowners' committee of the community published various false and slanderous articles through WeChat official accounts, small accounts, video accounts, and homeowners' groups, "consciously creating negative public opinions about the property management company" and "intensifying the contradictions between uninformed homeowners and the property management company."
Image source: Homeowners' Committee Information
On January 11, a conflict occurred in the Jiulong Yunjing Community in Chongqing due to property management handover issues. At the end of 2024, the homeowners' committee of the community replaced the property management company with Vanke Property. The original property management company, Beijing Jinhui Jinjiang Property, refused to hand over the management right of the garage on the grounds that the property rights of some unsold parking spaces belonged to the developer. They even sent people to block the entrances and exits of the garage, resulting in a physical conflict with the community property management.
In March, when the homeowners' meeting of the third phase of Zhoukou Taidi Modern City voted on selecting a new property management company, it was resisted by the current property management company, Excellence Property. Excellence Property questioned the legitimacy of the homeowners' committee and cut off the power supply to the homeowners' committee office. When representatives of the homeowners' committee went to question them, a fierce conflict broke out between the two sides, and the police were called.
On July 19, a physical conflict occurred in five buildings of the Zhengzhou Zhenghongshan Community, where disputes over "replacing the property management company" had lasted for two years. The service provider, Jianye Property, called it the July 19 "Violent Conflict Incident".
Image source: Internet
The frequent occurrence of conflicts between old and new property management companies caused by property management replacement inevitably raises a question:
Why are more and more communities now demanding to replace their property management companies?
03
Firstly, it is the price factor, which is very sensitive to both homeowners and property management companies.
Recently, there was a similar case in a Wuhan community involving Vanke Property.
At the beginning of this year, the first homeowners' committee of the Vanke Ziyuewan Community in Wuhan sent a letter to Vanke Property, the community's property management company, regarding the reduction of property management fees, demanding a fee cut.
On May 25, Vanke Property offered three optional plans:
Plan 1: No fee reduction, but provide value - added services;
Plan 2: Return more profits to homeowners;
Plan 3: Provide personalized services with flexible pricing.
After more than two months of negotiation, the homeowners' committee finally chose the "flexible pricing" model. The property management fee in the Vanke Ziyuewan Community was reduced from 3.28 yuan per square meter per month to 2.78 yuan per square meter per month (high - rise buildings) and 2.98 yuan per square meter per month (villas), a reduction of 10% - 15%, becoming another case of fee reduction at the request of homeowners.
Image source: Internet
Since the first half of 2024, when cities such as Chongqing, Wuhan, Qingdao, and Yinchuan issued guidance prices for property management fees, the communities in these cities that took the lead in reducing fees have provided successful examples for homeowners across the country. This has led to imitation in many regions and communities, triggering a wave of property management fee reductions nationwide.
However, not every community can have friendly negotiations. Some property management companies refuse or delay fee reduction on the grounds of "market - determined pricing." In response, homeowners withhold property management fees and propose to replace the property management company, which leads to an escalation of contradictions.
The second key reason is the continuous decline in the scale growth rate of property management companies. Under the pressure of growth, direct competition between different property management companies has intensified.
According to statistics from E - Han Think Tank, in 2024, the average management area of the top 100 enterprises was 69.463 million square meters, a year - on - year increase of 2.18%. The growth rate decreased by 4.03 percentage points compared with the previous year, hitting a record low.
The main reason for the rapid slowdown in the scale growth rate of property management companies is the decline in the delivery volume of the real estate development industry. In 2024, the national residential completion area decreased by 27.4% year - on - year. The development dividends from parent companies have disappeared, directly impacting the scale foundation of property management companies. As a result, they have to increase their efforts to expand in existing communities, which objectively conflicts with the existing property management companies' efforts to retain their business in these communities.
Data source: Corporate performance reports, compiled by E - Han Property Research. Note: The inner circle represents 2023, and the outer circle represents 2024.
As property management companies are caught in the competition for existing market share, price wars are inevitably triggered in some regions. Leading property management companies such as Vanke Property and China Merchants Property have proposed flexible pricing models such as menu - based services and "basic services + value - added services with layered fees," which actually open up a low - price competition track.
The expansion of branded property management companies into existing communities at low prices, combined with the decline in the satisfaction of property management services in many existing communities in the past two years, has stimulated the demand for replacing property management companies in more communities.
The third main reason for the increasing frequency of conflicts between property management companies is that some property management companies have obvious defects in their services or "downgrade their services," which causes dissatisfaction among homeowners. Coupled with the wave of property management fee reductions, "replacing the property management company" has become an outlet to resolve the contradictions.
According to statistics from E - Han Think Tank, in 2024, the average net profit of the top 100 property management enterprises was about 197 million yuan, a year - on - year decrease of 12.9%. The net profit margin was about 4.1%, a decrease of about 1.28 percentage points compared with 2023. Many property management enterprises experienced a simultaneous decline in gross profit and net profit. The marginal benefit of the scale - driven model is collapsing.
The continuous narrowing of profit margins has forced enterprises to reduce service costs, resulting in a significant decline in the quality of property management services. The decline in service quality leads to a decrease in homeowners' satisfaction. Some homeowners in certain communities use the refusal to pay property management fees as a "tool for rights protection," thus forming a vicious circle.
In particular, the affiliated property management companies of some defaulting enterprises have become the hardest - hit areas for the decline in the quality of property management services. (The mess left by Shimao is still fermenting.)
A homeowner in a certain community of Jianye in Zhengzhou said: "The property management staff in the community has been changing constantly. Since I moved in three or four years ago, there have been three or four changes of the housekeeper for our building. Not to mention the property manager, there has been a major reshuffle. At the beginning, there were all handsome young men and beautiful women, and the staff was young. Now, due to limited budgets, the overall quality is uneven, and the service awareness has declined significantly. People often complain in the property management group about chaotic parking, poor cleaning in the basement, etc. There are problems with the allocation of patrol and cleaning staff. The greenery and scenery in the community should be a major feature, but after several years, the maintenance is very poor. Many precious tree species have died or withered due to lack of maintenance. The regular maintenance of the whole community is also not well - done. It took a long time to repair the broken gate. Some homeowners illegally expanded their small yards or built sunrooms, and the property management company did not investigate thoroughly. The promised canteen also came to nothing."
On the one hand, the overall profit margin of the industry has declined. In recent years, property management enterprises have actively expanded value - added services such as community retail and housekeeping services to cope with operational pressure, but the actual results are limited. The income from community value - added services has even shown a downward trend. On the other hand, newly - delivered communities are gradually becoming old communities. As the community ages, the maintenance cost is getting higher and higher.
Property management companies are facing a double squeeze. Some companies, in pursuit of excessive commercial interests, have adopted a "downgraded property management service" strategy or made profits from renting out some public areas without disclosing the income, which further intensifies the contradictions. Some property management companies that have made upfront investments are even more reluctant to leave when conflicts occur.
Relevant statistics show that currently only 23% of communities have fully disclosed the income and expenditure of property management fees.
All these factors have weakened the trust between homeowners and property management companies. Where there is suspicion, conflicts are likely to occur.
In order to address this situation, some places hope to establish a communication channel through the establishment of homeowners' committees and resolve problems through negotiation. At the same time, they aim to make the charging of property management companies more transparent.
For example, Linxia Prefecture in Gansu revised regulations in 2025 to simplify the process of establishing homeowners' committees. Beijing has promoted the establishment rate of homeowners' committees from 12% to 97% through the model of "Party - building leadership + community coordination," providing organizational support for property management replacement.
However, during the transition and improvement stage from theory to practice, the homeowners' committees in some communities have become tools for some homeowners to