On a related topic.

Published this morning is a SCMP piece depicting the spillover effects of indebted developers on their property management subsidiaries. Financial strains of property managers may further fuel unresolved issues of homeowners as mentioned above:

www.scmp.com/[...]

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"Shares of most Chinese property management firms, once a darling of investors, have been beaten down in recent months as the woes of their parent companies spill over"

- "Property managers are being used as a financial tool by distressed developers to bail them out of sticky situations, JPMorgan says"

"At its height, 18 Chinese property managers, most of them spun off from their parent developers, went public in 2020, nearly double that in 2019 and four times that in 2018...

To raise money, embattled developers are turning to their property management units. Some like Modern Land have sold their stake in such units, while others have opted to sell the core asset of their property management units."

Little Red Book (小红书) does that. The platform has been gaining traction for a while now. Blogging about Kunming in English would help you stand out from Chinese bloggers/vloggers.

Like Weibo, politically sensitive topics would be moderated by their own if not flagged, as the company would be held accountable for not doing so.

No homegrown, tech company is safe from scrutiny these days.

Infiltration for spying or comraderie sabotage is bound to happen in these WeChat groups when money is involved.

Screening process as group head (群主) endowing banning privileges is at one's disposal. Over time, the real owners will differentiate themselves from infiltrators. The branching out to a separate subgroup for private discussions with regulars who've earned their badges would naturally occur. The main Wechat group would intentionally be kept. Strategic ambiguity and misinformation would be released to previous discussion group to mislead prying eyes.

In the good, the bad, and the ugly analogy, Junfa and developers like Vanke are among "the good." Positioning themselves as the more responsible companies, they'd try to maintain positive after-sales koubei as one of selling points for long-term competitive advantage in the housing market. They may address plumbing and flooding within the residences' apartment, even as warranty period (房屋保修期) expires after the post-delivery window.

If newer phase development is ongoing, beyond the current unsold apartments, developers and their property management arms would capitulate more to owners' complaints. Inspections pending need to be passed, so developers in these situations may bend further to be in local governments' good graces. Making complaints to 经开区 have more bite in these circumstances.

As long as potential customers' beaten path to the 样品屋 show room is beautified, lesser developers focusing soely on near-term transactions wouldn't bother fixing internal problems unseen by unsuspecting buyers strolling into premises with cursory glances.

In older compounds where projects have been completed, summoning 市长热线 （mayor's office) in some cases wouldn't be enough to pressure the bad and the ugly ones to right their wrongs. Tough ordeal hunting down companies that went under.

Perhaps 诉讼 (litigation) would be an option if all else fails. Legal fees in Yunnan are much cheaper than those in Shanghai, but would increase incrementally per owner/client participation.

Rowdy demonstrations by owners are less favorable these days, though a last resort for older generations. Being a foreigner involved in these ruckus may spare you from a local police arrest if push comes to shove during an all out protest. Locals are treated more harshly than foreigners in the event authorities come to shut down the "social unrest." Testing this out is probably not recommended in these volatile times.

业主群 for your particular compound may be found on WeChat social circles.

You would have more chances of finding owners association on WeChat if residential communities are larger and newer. Recent buyers have more to gripe about en masse after rushed deliveries by developers (to avoid accruing penalties from breach of contract).

Such relatively younger owners are keen to search each other out for strength in numbers.

One caveat is the most vocal "leaders" of the pack, or those with legal background, would be sought out by the opposition for pacification in private.

The grim reality of these owner associations is that personal benefits would be sought by the few over the good of the collective when given the opportunity to choose. It's not always a zero sum game in the Mainland when bilateral negotiations are concerned for multiple parties.

Start a virtual owners association on WeChat as 群主 if you can't find an existing one. Participants gradually increase in numbers as online group discussions of how your developer or property management suck. Eventually the WeChat community of 12 angry owners may morph into actual physical encounters. Nothing like sharing common goals and a common enemy to unite total strangers.

For older residential compounds, regulars who are often seen exercising in the public spaces may have formed clusters of their own cliques to address matters with the property management pertaining to resolving their specific needs. Accost them at your own discretion.

Property management fees may include 维修金 (renovation fund) which property management allegedly uses to fix things like elevators, or repair the cosmetics of common areas. If their books aren't transparent, 物业 may skimp regular servicing to pocket more profit.

That's when you and your fellow compatriots threaten them with #12345 national hotline complaints, or with the local 经开区, if initial protests failed to reap results. The developer of your community may still operate your property management in-house, or under a separate business entity if not outsourced/contract out. Know thy enemy.

Owners association are feared by property management, so naturally they won't navigate you to a congregation of owners to protest against them.

Mistake #1: Linking WeChat to your personal Facebook account

Mistake #2: Not boycotting FB

My humble suggestions ;)