Beyond Bounds Blog

I’ve lived in 7 different apartments in Beijing.  I think I’ve come across almost every possible bad situation that one can come across when trying to rent an apartment here, so I feel the need to help those of you out there who are soon to be renters.

When renting an apartment, the clearer you are with what you want, the easier it will be to find it.  Here are some helpful steps to save you time, money, and hassle:

1)  Understand the City Layout and Pick a Location:

a) Beijing is broken into rings, or roads that circle Beijing at different distances from the center.  Living next to one of these rings means getting to you or going away from you by car will be easier - aka taxi will be cheaper and faster + friends with cars will love you.  Live next to a ring. I live just off the 4th ring road, but also there is a freeway that connects directly to the 3rd next to me.

b) Without a car, Beijing is most easily traversed by subway, so you are going to want to live walking distance from a subway stop. Enough said.  Don’t buy that “you can take a bus, it’s just 2 stops away” bull.  It’s too much of a hassle.   If you have a car… ignore this.

c) If you are going to school, pick someplace within 10-15 minute walking distance from both your school AND a subway stop, but always preferably closer to the subway station than school.  If you are feeling lazy, you still have to go to class (well, unless of course you read this blog entry (LINK)), but you will choose not to go have fun.  I made this mistake before and my social life suffered.  Don’t become a hermit and put class ahead of your fun.

d) If you are not in school:  Unless you are a hermit, anything outside of the 4th ring road you will want to ELIMINATE now.  Apartments may be cheaper and larger, but the travel time is going to kill you when you want to do anything, not to mention the taxi costs when you come home past 11 from the few large gathering spots in Beijing.  Live within the 4th.

e) Live next to multiple lines: This is your first choice, as you double the places you can go to.  “Oh, but I can transfer can’t I?”  Yeah sure, add an extra 20-30 minutes to walk between stations and wait for another train.  I live in between 3 different subway lines right now, the 10 (which goes from College town in the West all the way to the Central Business District in the East), line 13 (gets me to line 2, or north out to nowhere), and line 5 (takes me to line 1 and shopping districts).  Of course, if you are in school this might not be a choice for you.  If you can’t live near multiple lines, try to live 1-2 stops from the next line.

f) Live next to food, shopping, and coffee. If you don’t have these near you, then every time you go outside you will have to travel - you might as well live where you go to get your coffee / shopping / food.  It’s nice to have friends come to you sometimes and to have shopping conveniently at your doorstep, so make sure there is plenty of this nearby.  I don’t drink coffee, but the cafe environment is good for a change from writing in my apartment, and I don’t want to have to go to the subway station or take a taxi every time I want this.  I love Chinese food and can eat it every meal everyday, but I have 7-11, pizza, coffee, burgers, Korean food, Japanese food etc all within a 10 minute walk JUST IN CASE (not to mention KTV).

Visit the locations that you picked out in step 1 and take a look at the different buildings in the area.  By picking the buildings that you want to live in ahead of time, you save yourself a LOT, I mean a TON of time with agencies trying to pinpoint exactly what you want.

a) Avoid buildings built before 2000, and preferably even 2004.  It is not true that apartments are cheaper in the older buildings: all you are getting is a headache from having to deal with bugs, the smell, broken down elevators, and very old furniture.  I’ve had to replace and fix all sorts of things in old apartments because the landlord wouldn’t do it, and in other cases just had to live with some things - this won’t happen as often in newer apartments.  Did I mention avoiding the bugs and the smell?

b) Check if the elevator runs 24/7 or only until midnight (of course assuming there is an elevator..).  Don’t make the mistake of renting an apartment on the 15th floor in a building that has an elevator that only runs until midnight.  Good luck walking up the stairs after a night of tequila and dancing.

c) Look for apartment complexes that are well-kept.  Some buildings, even new ones, are not kept clean, which is a good signal that the building will have BUGS.  I’ve made this mistake twice already in my years in Beijing.  This is important!   Go into each building and check the stairs for trash buildup and the main elevator area for cleanliness.  It’s best if there is a worker stationed at the front.  It’s OK if the place isn’t spotlessly clean, but some level of cleanliness will be an indicator of the shape of the rooms, besides, who wants to stand next to trash while waiting for the elevator everyday?

Obviously you need to know how many bedrooms you want and how many square meters (1 sq foot = .0929 sq meters), but other than that here are some things to add to your list.

a) Mention the buildings that you picked out from step 2.  This is going to save you a lot of time.  If you don’t live in Beijing and couldn’t visit the locations first, then just list out “building built after 2000, preferably after 2004, 24/7 elevator, well-kept”

b) CLEAN.  Agents know which apartments have been well-kept and which ones haven’t.  Hopefully by picking out the right buildings you should be avoiding most dirty apartments, but if you don’t stress this, you will still be taken to some garbage dumps-turned-apartments.  Sometimes there are clean rooms in the buildings that you didn’t check, so it’s good to put this on your list and mention it multiple times to the agent.  Seriously, clean means something different in first world and third world countries, so stress it (unless you like dirty apartments of course).  Go as far as to describe what clean means to you - “No bugs, no smell, white walls.” 没有虫子，无臭味儿，白墙 (mei2you3 chong2zi, wu2 chou4 wei4er, bai2qiang2).

c) Do you want wooden floorboards or tile?  To me this is a no-brainer - floorboards look and feel 10x better than the ugly looking tile that many architects in China love to use.  Sometimes tile looks nice I guess, but sometimes it’s just a disaster; my last apartment had this really ugly dirty red tile (it’s a long story about how I ended up there).

d) Size of Living Room:  Chinese tend to spend most of their time in their bedrooms, so many apartments are built with very small living rooms and larger bedrooms.  Westerners are more used to larger living rooms and smaller bedrooms.  Determine what you would be more comfortable with.  I always prefer a larger living room, so I make sure to stress this to the agent.  If you don’t mind and are living alone, some apartments don’t have a living room but are still very nice.  I don’t like this, but it is an option.

e) Windows:  Don’t let them take you to a dungeon, and if they do remember to have this on your check list - if you’re looking for apartments at night you may not notice; ask for apartments that have larger/ more windows and you’ll save money on electricity and will probably wake up in a better mood ever day.  I’m writing this from my bedroom, which has a 1.8m x 2.2m window (about half of the wall) facing south - I don’t turn the lights on until late afternoon.

f) An air conditioner in every room, including the living room: Beijing gets as hot as hell during the summer.  Just make sure you don’t get screwed over.

g) Water heater quality:  Oh boy.  I made this mistake with the apartment I’m renting right now.  Hot water only lasts for 4 minutes, so now I’m left in a disadvantaged position to bargain with the landlord on getting a replacement (or fixing it).  This might not matter to you much, but it’s something to take into consideration.

   h) Furniture:  You CAN find apartments that are nicely furnished for cheap, so don’t settle - this is a place that you’ll be everyday.  Any little annoyance gets multiplied by X hours a day and Y days that you are renting for.  Furniture for me is a make-or-break requirement.
i) Does the furniture look like it came from the WWII period?
ii) Do the colors make you want to puke? (Dirty red tile with WWII-style brown furniture and green cabinets?)
iii) Is the furniture soft?
iv) Is the bed soft?
v) Is the wardrobe large enough?
vi) Is there anything missing: Sofa, TV, Computer desk, Chair, Wardrobe, Bed (or 2), Mattress (or 2), Fridge, Washer, Clothes Line for hanging washed clothing, mirror + rack for toiletries in the bathroom.

I) Internet + Cable TV:  Make sure these are either set up, or that they can be easily set up without you having to pay set-up fees.

4) Go to see the Agencies:

If you read Chinese and have a lot of extra time on your hands, you can try to find apartments that are not rented through agencies.  I tried and failed - everyone I called turned out to be an agent.  Agents have gotten smarter and pretend to be the landlord online, then when you call them they surprise you with “I’m an agent!”

a) Don’t go to just one agency, but go to all of them in the area.  All of the agencies have the same list of apartments, but what’s important is that when you are dealing with different agents you will be told different things.  One Agent might quote 3000 for an apartment, while the next agent quotes 2800.  Some agents are more resourceful, understanding, generally nicer than others.  I personally have had best luck with 链家 (lian4jia1), and worst luck with 我爱我家 (wo3ai4wo3jia1 - I love my home)

b) Call and tell them your requirements up front.  Make sure that they write it all down, and emphasize that you won’t see apartments that don’t match your checklist.  If you don’t do this, you are guaranteed to be taken to apartments that don’t match your needs.  Agencies have this trick of taking you to 2 apartments that you won’t like and then finally taking you to one that is close to what you want to make it seem better.  Don’t put up with this.

c) Make sure to tell them to find more than one apartment at a time to show you - don’t get trapped running across town just to see one apartment.

d) Keep in mind that landlords usually have to work, so they won’t be around until after 5pm.  Schedule meetings with all agencies in one go starting from 5 all the way to 8 or 9pm.  If you schedule ahead of time they will be able to get the landlords to stay later.

e) You don’t need to worry about agencies ripping you off too much on price - they won’t tell you that a 2000 RMB apartment goes for 3000, they’ll say 2400 or so.  Most agents are pretty honest and it comes down to convincing the landlord to lower prices, not the agent.

f)  Ask to meet the landlord.  我爱我家 (wo3ai4wo3jia1) is pretty bad with this.  It gets really ugly if you don’t have any connection with the landlord at all, as agencies do a really poor job of offering service after the purchase.  If something breaks, you need to register with the police, or have some emergency the landlord is the person you need and agencies are known to get in the way and avoid helping you.

5) Renting: Price and Bargaining

1) Don’t take the price first quoted to you - always bargain for something 100 - 400 RMB cheaper.  Even if the landlord won’t accept anything lower, this at least gives you stronger bargaining power for other things, although in most cases you will be able to get a cheaper price.  In my current apartment I wasn’t able to bargain any lower than the current price, but because I was strong in my conviction that I wasn’t getting a deal, the landlord budged on other things

Step by step:

i) “What’s the cheapest price you can give me”
ii) “What? That’s it?  Can’t you go lower?”
iii) “That’s too high.  What about (Insert something 100-400 RMB lower than what they just said)?”
iv) Go to step 2 (Yes, don’t accept any price yet)

2) Get more or better furniture:  This is the most common place for landlords to give ground, so push hard here.  You can often get them to buy you a new couch, a new TV, or even a new bed and mattress.  Previously I have gotten a brand new HUGE computer desk, new chairs, a new sofa, a new bed, and most recently new air conditioners and a newly remodeled kitchen.

Step by step:

i) “The (couch, bed, blah) is really old, there’s no way I can use it.  Can you replace this?”
ii) “There’s no (insert furniture) here, I’m going to need one”
iii) “These lights are really old, can you replace them with new ones”

3) Make an on the spot offer at a lower price than they said, while also throwing in the furniture they promised they could provide.  Say that you will take the apartment and will pay the deposit right now if he takes the price.  The landlord will be very tempted to rent it right away in fear of missing a month’s rent period looking for a renter.  Make sure to constantly wear a look of worry and dissatisfaction on your face.  Once you have found your ideal apartment, this is a good way to get a slightly cheaper price.

4) You can get the rent cheaper if you sign a year long contract, and even cheaper if you pay for a year up front.

5) AVOID any contract that requires 2 months deposit.  This is a scam to steal your money.  As many people end up leaving before their contracted time is up, the agency can legally keep your money.  Also when you decide to move, they can rack up costs such as “cleaning” or “maintenance” and take away a chunk of your deposit.  Keep your risk to a minimum and go for the standard 1 month deposit pay 3 months rent at a time.

6) For apartments over 3000 RMB, the agency fee is usually paid by the landlord.  This is actually a really stupid policy when you do the math.  Say you are renting an apartment for 2800 RMB + agency fee.  First break the agency fee into 12 months gives us 233 per month.  So you are really paying 3033 RMB for the 2800 RMB apartment, but only 3000 RMB for the other one.  Rent only below 2700 or above 3000 to avoid being an idiot and giving away free money.

Other Notes:

1) Foreigners must register with the police when they move and must bring along tax receipts from rent.  Landlords throughout Beijing seem to have unanimously agreed that foreigners will pay this tax.  Convince your landlord to say you are a friend, as friends don’t pay rent and thus there is nothing to be taxed, so you get to save 5% on your rent.  If you can’t, then have the agency write up a dummy contract that sets the rent price much lower than what you are actually paying in order to avoid some tax.

2) Consider apartments that are NOT furnished.  I am renting a non-furnished apartment.  The furnished equivalent goes for 700 RMB more per month.  After purchasing furniture myself (thus I own it and I picked out what I like), and dividing the price by 13 months (12 months + 1 month agency fee), I end up saving 300 RMB / month on rent in addition to whatever money I can get for my used furniture when I move out and sell it.

Missing anything?  Share your tips!

If I’m missing anything feel free to leave a comment.  Share your tips with the rest of us and make renting an apartment that much easier.