Beijing housing chiefs are planning to revise the rules for landlords and rental agencies, which could shake up the sector and better protect tenants, insiders say.

The commission of housing and urban-rural development opened the debate over the existing regulation, in effect since 2001, by soliciting comments on its website last month.

More than 520 proposals were submitted, most of them concerning rental agencies, including complaints of bad or lax management, fee increases and safety concerns.