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GUANGDONG authorities should regulate property management firms and set up an allied owners' commission to avoid disputes that have occasionally turned violent, a member at the ongoing session of the Ninth Guangdong Provincial Committee of the CPPCC said.

Wang Zhechu quoted by the South China Morning Post said the owner of a property at Panyu District's Huanan New City was beaten so badly last week for protesting against the management company's decision to disband its shuttle bus service that he required surgery. In another case in Shenzhen last year, a flat owner from Hong Kong claimed she was beaten by security guards after she complained about illegal structures in her residential compound.

"The problem is serious and we must deal with it before it gets worse," Wang said.

In a proposal submitted to the advisory body, Wang noted more than 2.6 million Guangdong people were living in 3,617 residential communities and buildings overseen by property management companies.

However, only 429 owners' committees representing 12.8 percent of the population had been set up.

Wang said management companies were usually established by developers, while residents' committees have no legal status.

Decision on issues such as management fees are usually taken unilaterally by the management companies, with owners having no say.

Many cases involve the embezzlement of management fees by property managers, while other disputes arise from owners not paying management dues.

No government departments are telling property management companies how they should operate, although the property management companies' association comes under the purview of the bureau of land resource and housing management.

Want said the government has a duty to coordinates property management and residents' committees. Such an association, which in turn needed to be registered with the civil affairs bureau, would be a first in the country.

Editor: Yan