The parents are asking for a compensation of 270,000 yuan (US$32,648) from the Shencheng Property Management Co. They claim that if the two security guards had not left their posts during working hours, the killer could not have managed to follow their only child into the building and the lift, which led to the disaster.

The killer, an 18-year-old migrant worker named Chen Kailin, was sentenced to life in June.

There have been other such tragedies.

Last month, Shanghai No 2 Intermediate People's Court asked another property management company to pay 40,000 yuan (US$4,836) to a family for their daughter's death at home at the hands of a burglar.

The couple successfully argued that the security guards did not do their job in preventing the burglar from entering their home.

Emerging trend

As more apartment buildings are built and more individuals buy their own homes, dispute between owners and property-management companies have been on the rise.

The concept of private property management is, to some extent, new to many Chinese - it was introduced only during the last decade when houses and apartments were bought by individuals.

"In the past, such apartment buildings were all the property of enterprises, not individuals," said Gu Qiong, a spokeswoman for Hongkou District People's Court. "The trend (in disputes over service) is a result of the country's reforms."

Property management companies have taken the place of the former house management offices, which had long been governmental departments. It is this change of roles that has led to conflicts.

And the law seems to back the residents to some extent.

The Shanghai Higher People's Court declared last month that if property management companies could not provide quality service commensurate with the fees, residents or house-owners could refuse to pay the fees.

Said Lu Zhongyan, a resident: "In my building, the guards were careless; and cars and strangers could enter easily."

When the property management company turned a deaf ear to residents' complaints, they refused to pay.

"It worked, and the management company soon improved," Lu added.

"Now, most of the disputes are about the fees. Many residents are not satisfied with the services such as cleaning and some refuse to pay," said Gu.

For example, in Kaixuanmen Mansion located in Zhabei District, some house-owners have refused to pay for a long time because they are unhappy with Shanghai Excellence Property Management Co - leaving the mansion with 530,000 yuan (US$64,087) in unpaid electricity bills.

Discontent

A recent survey in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou indicated that some 42 per cent of the residents were "gravely dissatisfied" with property management companies.

Related surveys found that most disputes arose in the first two years after residents move in. Experts said it was largely the fault of the real-estate companies, because many property management companies are appointed or set up by realtors.

Apartment owners, real-estate companies and property-management companies should not have conflicts of interest but one-third of the management companies are subsidiaries of real-estate firms, which infringes upon residents' rights.

Lack of definition

Some management companies say the court ruling puts too much pressure on them.

"There is no criteria for quality service, so how do we measure it," asked Wang Hongjiang, director of Shanghai Excellence Property Management Co, Ltd. "A property management company is not a governmental department, it must make profits to survive."

Wang explained that when the area of a residential building totals 50,000 to 70,000 square metres, the company can easily make profits. Yet, some buildings are smaller and since management companies have difficulty making profits, quality suffers.

Yin Kunhua, an expert with the Real Estate Research Centre of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, pointed out that residents ought to realize what kind of service they can expect given the fee they pay without blindly blaming management companies.

"Some people do not realize that their requirements are too high," he said. Another major dispute is with residents' complaints about careless security guards.

"If residents find someone had broken into their homes or their family members injured or killed in the house, they blame security guards," Yin said. "It is not reasonable that security guards shoulder all the responsibility."

In this, the law has given them some relief.

The Shanghai Higher People's Court clearly stipulated that while security guards should fulfill their duties, they cannot be considered to carry the sole responsibility for residents' safety.

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