Three Things You Need to Know–3. How to Rent an Apartment/Flat in Chengdu
You may easily rent a nice apartment or house in Chengdu if you are not too picky. But if you want everything exactly what you expect or as you have in your own country, this process would be really exhausted and frustrated. Here are some useful tips and information for your home search in Chengdu as following:
How the payment work in Chengdu
Agency Fee: In china, generally the person who wants to rent the apartment/ flat is the one who pays for the agent’s fee. Usually the fee is one month’s rent.
Lease Term: Usually should be at least a fixed-term one year lease which means if you terminate the lease early, you may lose the deposit.
Rental Payment: Majority of landlords in Chengdu accept one month deposit and quarterly payment which means payments done in every 3 months.
When to start house Searching
Generally nice apartments with one or two bedrooms can be easily rent out, better start your home search program about two days before the lease commencement date. While bigger apartments, even houses would take more time to rent out, usually need two weeks to two months. So organize your time wisely to get things done in the time you have.
Where to Live:
then, decide which area to live in. Is close to office most important or to downtown? If you have kids with you, you may also need to consider distance to school. There are only five international schools in Chengdu(Click here to check Chengdu International Schools and Foreigner residential areas in Chengdu).
Finding an apartment/house
Once you decide on areas to live, you may better reach a relocation consultant with all all requests such as budget, numbers of bedrooms/bathrooms, lease commencement date, lease term, etc. Professional relocation consultants from Chengdu Space speak decent English and Japanese, know better about expats’ preference and prepare properties according to your needs, thus solve your precious time.
Once you find a nice apartment, you need to be aware of following things:
Related Fees:
Be aware of other fees related to the apartment. If the rental is reimbursed by your company, then generally you need invoice to prove how much you paid. In Chengdu, the person who needs the invoice is the one who pays for the tax. While the tax is about 5% of the rent for ordinary VAT invoice and 7% of the rent for VAT special invoice or rental above 30,000 RMB/month . Also there will be other fees, such as management fee for compound management service which varies from different compounds to different floor areas, garbage fee which is 8 RMB/month collected by government, parking fee, internet fee, and utility fee,etc.
Requests:
Make sure to put up all your requests before signing contract. If you have any requests about the flat you are going to rent, forward all of them to your consultant at one time. Chengdu Space consultant will definitely negotiate a good solution for you. But once the contract is signed, landlords barely accept any other requests.
Internet:
Apply for internet installation at least one day ahead before move in. In China, we have three largest internet service provider: China Telecom, China Unicom, China Mobile. Currently the most stable one in Chengdu is China Telecom. They provide 20 M to 300 M while the 200 M with highest cost performance costs 169 RMB/month. You may apply for internet installation at any service provider office nearby your apartment with your passport, generally they will send some technician to install for you the next day.
Police Station Registration:
Registration at local police station. Once you moved into an apartment(not a hotel), you need to register at local police station within 24 hours, otherwise you may get fined. Here are the documents you may need for the TRF which are subject to requirements of different police station:
1. Original passport
2. One piece of copy of passport main page, visa page and latest entry stamp
3. Copy of leasing Contract including landlord’s ID and certificate of ownership.
4. Residence Certificate from management office
Also once your residence permit or passport is renewed or you travel and come back from other countries, you need to renew this registration again within 24 hours.