Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 12:13 am Post subject: Expat Housing in China : Renting in China Guide
Expat Housing in China : Renting in China Guide
Using a real Estate agency
It is always wise to use a real estate company; however it can be time consuming to use local Chinese agencies. Indeed, currently there are many vacant apartments, but there seems to be an information gap. Newcomers do not know where the available housing is, and local real estate companies cannot always identify expatriates’ needs. Furthermore, even the larger less-personal agents sometimes use local staffs who do not understand the needs of the foreign community in addition to lacking English or other foreign languages skills to properly communicate.
Agency Fees
According to the Chinese Law, tenant and owner have to share the payment of the commission for the real estate agent: 35% is paid by the owner and 35% is paid by the customer.
Usually, for rent above 8’000RMB, it is possible negotiable that the whole commission fee is paid by the landlord.
Some agencies arrange for the owners to pay the 70% commission. However, tenants need to know that owners will be more likely to keep a high rent knowing that if they sign the contract they will need to pay the whole commission. As a result, your rent will be higher compare to what you could find and you will not be able to bargain that much the rental price.
Terms
There are short term (<6 months) and long term (>6 months) leasing contracts in Shanghai. Usually to rent an apartment you'll need to be renting for a period of at least 6 months preferably a year though. Most owners sign a 1 year leasing contract. It is possible to have short term leasing contracts but it depends on the owners and the terms are different: rents are usually more expensive.
Contracts
The lease terms are written in English and Chinese. Only the Chinese version of a contract is acceptable by the courts and will be relied on the event of a dispute.
Payment of the rent
It is paid in RMB, in cash, monthly in advance. In some cases, you can do a money transfer but you will need to open a bank account in a Chinese bank.
Prices are not utilities included. Usually you need to add Management and tax fees.
Deposit required
Owners usually ask to pay a 2 months deposit and 1st month rent in advance when you sign a long term leasing contract. (1 month deposit= 1 month rent)
The receipt for the deposit is called "shouju" and is a written recognition that the landlord has received the money. Deposits are often paid upon signing of the lease to ensure unit occupation, compensation for damages caused by the tenant, or non-performance of lease terms.
Should the property condition be deemed acceptable upon lease expiration, the security deposit will be refunded in full.
Deposits are paid back the last day of your leasing contract after you and the owner have checked the apartment. If you break the leasing contract before the end of the leasing date, the owner will keep your 2 months deposit.
Management Fees
Management fee is payable monthly to the management company. It covers the cost of maintenance, security of the building and amenities. Fee depends on the building age and facilities offered to the Tenants.
Inspection
Before moving in, make sure that the space is cleaned and all appliances are in working order. The inventory when you move in should be carefully checked and ensure – as anywhere in the world – a comprehensive description of any anomalies is made and signed by all parties.
The water, electrical and gas meter readings should be written down on the contract. All rented apartments in Shanghai come fully furnished and with TV etc.
Tax receipt
The rental tax receipt (and other tax receipts) are called "fapiao" and the landlord has to pay tax (at present 5% of rental fee) to issue the receipt. You need "fapiao" for rental payments if you intend to use it in Chinese corporate bookkeeping or for any type of tax deductions in China.
House Insurance
In China, you are not required to have property insurance. In fact, all expatriates places are usually insured by the landlord in case of fire, bad weather, war, water…any other cause which is not attributable to the tenant. If you damage the apartment, you will have to pay for it, or it is possible to get a private insurance and insure your personal goods and the goods which are in the apartment (Public liability - Property Damage).
Utility bills
The Tenant usually pays gas, water, electricity, and telephone charges. It usually costs around 50 euros or 65 USD all together. This is an average on 1 year: expect higher electricity bills during winter and summer.
Those charges can be paid to any convenient stores like Kedi, Lawson or Convenience 21; or also at the post office or the bank. Just bring your bills with you.
Electricity – billed monthly. China uses a standard of 220 volts and 50 cycles. Plugs come in at least four designs: three pronged angled pins (as in Australia), three pronged round pins (as in Hong Kong), two flat pins (US style but without the ground wire) and two narrow round pins (European style). You will be able to buy most kind of adaptors in Shanghai, but it is a good idea to bring a few with you to start.
Water – billed bimonthly. The tap water is not drinkable or must be boiled before drinking. We recommend you use water dispensers with water jugs. It usually costs between 8 – 12 RMB for a 19 litres jug. The base unit can be purchased at any supermarket. Water containers can be delivered as needed.
Gas – billed bimonthly. Most kitchen burners use gas.
Cable or Satellite TV – most buildings are cable ready, and give you access to Chinese channels (about 50 channels), and only one in English (CCTV 9).
Some apartments have satellite TV installed but it is quite rare. If you want to install it, it costs from 2000-4000RMB (installation fees).
Phone / Internet – billed monthly. There will be a separate bill for the Internet charges.
Usually you need to pay 60 euros or 70 USD for the installation of a broadband Internet connection. And every month you pay 15 to 17 euros or 20 USD for the leasing.
A housekeeper - or ayi in Chinese and as called by most foreigners, costs from RMB 8 per hour depending on the number of working hours. Some of the services offered by an ayi include cleaning, ironing, cooking, taking clothes to the dry cleaners and the paying of utility bills. Some of them speak English or have experience working for foreigners, are generally more expensive. If you are living alone it can be great to return home from work to find all your clothes washed and ironed, and your evening dinner waiting in the microwave. Even better, most ayis are wonderful cooks!
It's important to remember that some ayis may not be used to dealing with foreigners and their cultural habits (laundry baskets are not the norm in China), so be patient with your instructions and expectations. Tipping is not normally expected in China, but if you're satisfied with your ayi's service then a bonus will be more than welcome.
it's a good guide!
I'm a chinese live in Beijing, and my home town is in Hangzhou(Close to ShangHai, sourth of China), be frankly, it has one little mistake on this part:
Water ? billed bimonthly. The tap water is not drinkable or must be boiled before drinking.
the north of china is short of water, most of tap water is coming from underground like Beijing, and it's drinkable in new building if the water is not polluted by the old iron pipe, it's ture that the tap water could not be drink in south of china b4, becos we r using surface water and the process was simple and crude b4 the 80's of last century, some of my white friends have tested in some small city of south china and nothing happen in these years.
I heard lot of ppl said this b4, I think one important reason is chinese like drink tea and hot water, it was said the cold water and food will harm your stomach, u can ask your chinese friends whether is ture.
So don't be thirsty if u just get tap water in china [/u]
Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Posts: 2033 Location: Kuala Lumpur Home Country: france
Posted: Tue Apr 04, 2006 2:29 pm Post subject:
Thanks for the note oneway
Interesting stuff about water - one should really be careful!
I had a friend who had bad vacation because he did not boil its water properly and was drinking his coke with ice
Posted: Fri Jun 09, 2006 9:35 am Post subject: Housing Advice
Mr Sun
General Manager
Yosemite Villa
Dear Mr. Sun,
By now you are aware that my family will leave the Yosemite Villas at the end of June. We are finishing our lease 6 months before the end date.
Before we leave I want to make sure you clearly understand just why we feel it is necessary to take such drastic action.
1. You have completely failed to effectively support our landlord in controlling the noise, dust, odor and chaos caused by the construction
works in the neighboring houses, and especially in the adjacent property.
2. The construction and installation quality of the houses is so poor we are continually requesting maintenance services form either your staff or
the landlords service providers. Just a few of the things we have had to suffer from are:
faulty heating, air-conditioning breakdown, leaking roof and walls, water stoppages and power outages.
3. The service and maintenance staff you send to make repairs are completely incapable of effectively completing repairs in one visit. Therefore we
are continually being disturbed by maintenance people coming and going from our house, particularly on weekends.
4. You want to attract high rent paying expatriate tenants and residents to your compound but you show no understanding at all of how western
people live, and what role our home plays in our lifestyle.
5. There are so many strangers and badly driven vehicles on the streets of the compound that it is not safe to allow our children outside to play in the
Yosemite neighborhood.
You need to understand that Western people work very hard from Monday to Friday and want to use the weekend, especially Sunday, to relax and
spend time with family. We also like to use our gardens for relaxing and entertaining friends. This is just not possible in Yosemite.
That fact that you allow contractors 7day access to the compound means we have to endure noise, dust, odor and chaos for 7 days a week, 12 hours
a day. We have no chance for any quiet enjoyment of our very expensive rental property.
You might think you are doing your house owners a favor by allowing their construction teams such unrestricted access to the site. In fact any
short-term advantage will soon be counter-balanced by declining property and rental values. This is because eventually people are not going to want
to live in Yosemite.
We have complained to many people about the issue and we already know that many agents do not want to show Yosemite to their prospective clients.
We already know of 3 families who will move out because of the construction noise, and the compound is already appearing on the "do not show"
list of several multi national companies.
As more and more people decide against Yosemite the rental values will become less and less. What is today worth USD 6000 per month will soon only
be worth 4000 per month.
Eventually, despite the modern design of the houses and the nice location it will become known in the expat community as a place to avoid. You will
also have a lot of disappointed and dissatisfied owners.
We are very disappointed that we have to leave our house in Yosemite. But the noise, dust, odor and chaos caused by the construction works means
that it is just not possible for us to live a peaceful and comfortable life, either in the house or in the garden.
We hope that you will take some notice of this friendly but serious advice
Chengdu today has more than 7000 foreign residents, most of whom work for the 8000 Chengdu registered foreign companies, or teach at Chengdu based schools and universities. The majority of these expatriates live in the south of the city near the American Consulate or in the Tongzilin area.
1. Klein Consulting Properties
1. RENTAL
Klein Consulting Co. Relocation Dept. can provide you with high quality full furnished apartments and villas (with ADSL connection) in the following complexes, all of which are now available for viewing.
• Zongbei International
• Jinguan New City
• Gloria Regent
• Orchiad Villa
• China Garden 1 & 2
• Indou Garden
• Shanghai Garden
• Spring Garden
• Zhonghai City
• Qinghua villas
• The Waterfront
Prior to viewing, Klein Consulting ensures that every house/apartment is thoroughly renovated (if necessary), and prepared to expatriate standards.
2. PROPERTY INVESTMENT
Please contact our Real Estate Dept. for documentation.
Please contact our Real Estate Dept. for documentation.
Klein Consulting Real Estate Dept.: 666 44 320
2. Klein Consulting After sales services
After sales services is a key service of Klein Consulting, and is the main difference between our company and other housing services in Chengdu. Should you encounter difficulties, we are always available to solve these for you. In emergencies, our clients can contact us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on our dedicated after sales services number:
After sales service: 81 31 30 40
3. Klein Consulting VIP PROGRAM
Our most valued clients will receive a complementary VIP Card.
Completely free, your VIP card entitles you to significant discounts at Chengdu's top restaurants, spas and cafes.
Klein consulting works to make your life easier, to make you feel at home and help you enjoying also your leisure time, so we decided to have agreements with the most well-known places for foreigners.
Just show your card and enjoy the benefits of being part of the "Klein Consulting Family."
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