House Rental

By china tour on 2009-12-7 5:21:00 | Beijing Tours

Where you're going to live is an important part of expat life. How you go about finding accommodations in Beijing depends on where you want to live. If you re going for the top or middle end of market, a quick browse through mags and websites will give you plenty of numbers to call. House Agents here tend to charge the landlord for their services rather than the tenant if the rental surpasses 3000 or so. You could pretend you don't need to pay any extra.
Websites are really useful in house hunting. Some free websites provide all kinds of English accommodations information both from agents and landlords although ads from landlords are not so many as agents. It’s always lovely to have a Chinese friend with you in hunting or choose a landlord who can speak English even a little bit which will be of great help in the days after in case of a hardship of dwelling due to language barrier.
If you prefer dealing with the agent, try to find formal agency like Wo Ai Wo Jia, or 21 Century. Some small agencies tend to charge both of the tenant and landlord, so you need to pay what you don’t have to pay. And always ask the agency to offer an English version contract, be careful of the details of the contract as well. Or you can pretend that you don’t speak Chinese at all! That’ll be fun!
 
 

Tips while check the house up:
Air Conditioner- Is it working?How many units in which rooms?
Hot Water-Gas-powered or electricity-powered, check the ventilation and time to heat the water.
Cooking Facilities-Any ovens?
Bathroom-Western style or Chinese style? Oh, don’t forget the drainage.
Bedroom-Hard bed or soft?
Entertainment-TV, DVD and VCD.
Phones-Don’t think you need a phone, cellphone is much more convenient. But if you need a fax machine, please check.
Extra charge-Building maintainment fees, rabish collecting fees, cable fee, etc. Utility bills are usually on your own of course.
Security-Is the security secure?
The surroudings-supermarket, banks, hospitals, groceries, restaurants,etc.
The landlord-Is he/she nice? love to help? Speak a little Englsih?

Free website for with housing ads:
www.thebeijinger.com
www.cityweekend.com
en.ganji.com