Job Discussion Forums

[Jordean]

Alright, I have the sweet (sorta) position lined up, and I hate to admit it, but fiancee's friends are doing some grunt work looking for an apartment for the as-yet absent laowai.

I am hearing, however, that in BJ landlords are requiring (or required to ask?) one year's rent in advance (oh and one month to the real estate agent). The folks doing the looking for me are specifically NOT dropping the dime about me being lao wai. Even under these terms, the rents are very nice for BJ, so I don't think I will have better luck pounding sand myself.

Anyone else scoping out digs having similar experiences?

[kungfucowboy83]

here in qingdao you can usually negotiate the fee down a little and pay every 6 months but i'm not sure about beijing.

[garbotara]

One month deposit and three months or two months rent is plenty. Don't give them any more than that. Too many things can go wrong with apartments here.

[jeffinflorida]

Just remember - once you give money to an owner or agency the chances of you EVER getting any of that money back for any reason are very slim...

That includes if the apartment is sold to a new owner who wants you to leave, the building is condemned, acts of nature or god...etc etc.

Money given to an owner is usually gone. Deposits never returned ... Owners never return your calls...

[lf_aristotle69]

In HangZhou I pay 6 months rent in advance and gave 2 month's rent as a security deposit. At the beginning of the contract the agent received 0.5 month's rent from both myself and the landlord.

If I stay on longer than a year I will negotiate month by month rent payments.

My previous apartment in HZ was sold a few months into my time here. The new landlord waited until my original 1 year contract was up before getting me to move out. He gave me my 2 month's security deposit back, it had been transferred to him from the previous landlord.

Not everyone here is a petty crim stealing from you at any opportunity...

A few years ago in ChangChun I paid rent in advance at 2 monthly intervals.

In ChangSha I was looking around and it seemed that 3 months in advance was common.

Different cities often have different norms. But, there's often flexibility too if you're willing to press the landlord and risk being rejected if other people are also looking at their apartment.

I think 6 months is too much really, but I wanted to settle quickly as I found a reasonable apartment in a good location.

But, 12 months in advance is pretty crazy...

Good luck!

LFA

[Jordean]

I guess whatever happens happens. But I find the Olympic situation somewhat petrifying... So I would rather lock something down. If it's the one-year 'deal' I promise never to gripe about it in this forum.

[danielb]

The company paid six months in advance and one month deposit for mine.

[garbotara]

No foreigners I know paid more than 4 months total. Don't do it. If you do the landlord will be trying to get more money out of you down the line. I have friends that didn't get their deposits back, that found out the heat didn't work and couldn't get their money back. There are just too many things that can happen. It's not like renting places in the States, if something is broken most of the time they won't even fix it.

[SnoopBot]

I've heard about cases where the duped Laowai paid all the rental fees in advance to find out that someone else owned the apartments and wanted their additional fees.

The original entity that was paid couldn't be found.

Be careful, being a Lao Wai in China is the same as walking around with a big sign posted on your back that says, "You can cheat and kick me both."

You're a target for every crook, liar and cheat, as inflation rates have gone up in the double-digits, every shyster is working over-time for some extra income angle from anyone they can cheat.

It's not going to get any better either...

I predict things will start getting more ugly after the Olympics Hoop-La is finished.

[Jordean]

At this point it's just Chinese friends dealing with realtors, so I don't think the lao wai 'surcharge' or special conditions are in effect. This will all get interesting.

Anyone in BJ have an A/C and/or fridge to sell? Any recommendations as to good stores? Carrefour maybe?

[garbotara]

Most places should have fridges and a/c. You really should look at the place yourself first before you rent it. Not having a fridge or a/c is a bad sign already. Also the minute they heard you were a lao wai they asked for a year's rent up front. They are trying to dupe you already.

[Joe C.]

[Jordean]

I am too much of a worry wart to wait 'til I get to BJ. If things go south I will blame it on my fiancee, since her friends are doing the hunting. Anyway, at this point it's being 'held' for me until I get there to look-see.

But I just know someone is gonna expect a big load of guan xi assuming everything works out well. Probably have to set a firm date if nothing else.