Your Accommodation in China

[boubou]

Accommodation I used to have in Chongqing Jiangbei district (5 minutes by bus from Jiangbei city centre):

Type of accommodation: Rented apartment

Description: not sure in meters square how big it was... newish building, fully furnished (bed, 2 couches, small coffee table, pots, pans, most utensils, small washing machine, fridge, table for TV, rice cooker... etc). Tiny kitchen with gas stove, fairly big living room with TV and DVD + cable, good size bedroom with a lot of storage space, small bathroom with real closed shower and a proper toilet.

Rent: 900Y a month, paid every 3 months. Landlady would pay for bills (electricity, gas and water) and bring the stamped and paid for bills every 3 months for me to pay for them (hence I didn't have to deal with anyone but her :-)

Found via: School I worked for helped me look for flats

Lease: Written and signed lease, and honestly when I go back to CQ, I hope to find my landlady again to rent from her... couldn't be happier! (She never entered without calling ahead, after the earthquake she knew I wasn't home so she went in to inspect and clean up, was there inside of 15 minutes any time I had a problem)

[roddy]

Thanks, good to see more information being added.

[boubou]

always useful :-)

[cui ruide]

long time coming, sorry I didn't post sooner as I know this is a useful thread--particularly when it's updated! ;p

BEIJING HAIDIAN, SUZHOU BRIDGE

Type of accommodation: Rented apartment

Description: 50ish square meters I think--translation: studio room with a coffee table, big wooden wardrobe, large wooden tv stand/cabinet thing, bed, wooden sofa, and connected yangtai. There is a kitchen and very small bathroom (closet-size). Also a laundry machine in the kitchen. Appliances included air conditioner, cable tv, fridge, water heater, gas stove, laundry machine. The building was built in the 1990s I think--which apparently means it's old and dirty... The stairs and hallways are open-air, no elevator, and dirty, scratched, and stickered... A little frightening until you get used to it, but really--my apartment is nice and cozy on the inside, so not a huge concern. Some things are in mild disrepair, but I think that's something about China? Nice neighborhood: outdoor food market right outside the building, lots of restaurants, 10 min walk from subway.

Rent: 1900Y a month, paid every 3 months. I pay for electricity and gas in advance with the card system. Not sure how water works since I've missed them coming by to check my meter twice now, and my landlady says don't worry about them...?

Found via: Walked into a local Wo Ai Wo Jia, named my price and location. Paid them a month's lease for my finder's fee.

Lease: Written and signed lease for a year. I plan to leave it early (and forfeit my deposit?) I think because haidian's too far from "exciting" things. The landlady has been very helpful, particularly with an ongoing laundry machine issue that plagues my first month or so there...

EDIT: Thanks Roddy, photos of the studio part uploaded. Excuse the clutter. ;p

Edited May 9, 2009 at 05:09 PM by cui ruide

[roddy]

You can do either, but if they're hosted off-site it's best if you make sure they'll always be available - some of the image hosting sites might remove them after X weeks or something. If you hit the edit button bottom right of your post, scroll down, and click 'manage attachments' you can upload your photos.

Thanks for the update, and good luck with the deposit. Should be a good location for Renda / Beiwai students, perhaps you can help the landlord find someone else for goodwill?

[roddy]

Now the photos are up:

Looks like a decent place for 1900Y to me, although I can see the location might not be ideal.

[cui ruide]

I fleshed it out a bit with some ikea products--a table, screen, chairs and whatnot, but It's indeed a very nice little apartment, and the cheapest of anyone I know in this area. As I said before, the building is disconcerting in appearance, and security for the complex seems nonexistent, but the real reason I'm leaving is solely a desire to be in central Beijing to cut-down on transit time/cost to friends/bars/culture. The apartment is a ten minute (or less) walk to work, but I'm planning a major overhaul of my life in Beijing, and living-working in Haidian tops the list of things to change.

[troysmith]

but I'm planning a major overhaul of my life in Beijing, and living-working in Haidian tops the list of things to change.

Would you care to elaborate? Is there something about either working or living in Haidian that is off-putting?

[cui ruide]

Haidian is a big place, so I'll point out that I'm nearest Bagou/Suzhou Jie stations. In short--I have a weird work schedule in which I work late and on the weekends. I have friends in the east. Traveling to central (Gulou)/eastern (Sanlitun, others) areas takes a good deal of time, and being the only one at the end of the night to head west in a cab takes a good deal of money. Even Wudaokou--if done cheaply by train--takes half-an-hour+ if you include walking to the subway. Some of this might be fixed with line 4 in the fall. I simply have fantasies about the life I want to/think I am able to live here. I know moving somewhere else won't magically make EVERY transportation headache go away, but from what I've gathered, living inside the the second-ring road is a remarkably different experience--convenient, compact, entertaining.

[xucencen]

Type of accomodation: Rented room.

City/Area: Wuhan

Description: 1 bedroom in a 3 bedroom apartment. Shared kitchen, bathroom and living room.

Rent: 420Y a month, paid quarterly, plus a 1 month deposit. The landlord is very nice, so I just pay the rent every 2 months. Water, electricity and internet is paid irreglar, not include in the rent. plus, I also rent an air conditioner so it's almost 500Y per-month in total.

Location: The building is just beside Guangbutun.

Found via: ad online.

Came with: Double-bed, desk, wardrobe. Shared fridge, washing machine, water heater, etc

Landlord / Building management: Landlord lives in one of the rooms, but he always out on business.

Notes: Almost all of my friends said it's tooooooo expensive, but I think the condition is great and worth it.

[xucencen]

This post really reminds me the days when I was in Beijing last year.

I rent a 一室一厅 at Fuchengmen and it's 1500Y per-month, I found the landlord online so luckly avoid the agency money. It's really expensive to rent a house in Beijing & Shanghai, and thx for the inflation, the rental is now even higher

Seems living in Wuhan is kinda of fortune,I'm comforted by this post

[Prodigal Son]

since I haven't posted in here in a few years and I've been in a new apartment for months-

my apartment in Chengdu:

- 1700元 / month

- 140 sq/m

- 3 bedrooms, one converted into a music studio. I have one roommate

- furnished with mediocre quality furniture. the advantage of this place is that it's large and on the first floor

- in the 棕南 neighborhood which is great, nice environment and proximity to stuff I like in Chengdu

[芳芳]

City: Nanjing

Description: 85m2, 26th floor, 2 室1厅

Rent: 2500RMB/month, paid every six months + one month deposit. I go pay the water/electricity/gaz/phone when there's no money left (the 业务 normally give me notice in advance normally).

Location: 5mn from Xinjiekou – very central and convenient (especially after living in Beijing where I had to live south 3rd ring not to be too far from my job, but were i couldn't go anywhere without taking 30mn subway, buses or taxies). Now I am 15mn by bike/scooter away from most places I want to go.

Exposistion: south+east

Found: it was the apartment of my predecessor (in my job). At first I didn’t like it, too noisy, living room a bit too dull, ugly furnitures. Then I visited a few 15 appartments in the city and found that for that range of price, this one was really good> Besides the landlords are a very nice couple and really wanted me to take it to avoid the bother of looking for new people. They accepted to remove the furnitures I didn’t liked so deal. I spent then some evenings to the local Ikea to replace the gone kitsch furnitures by simple (and maybe not so solid) looking ones.

Before I slept in the smaller room while the person I replace in my job was still there, and this room is noisy but the other one with a huge window I am using now is ok. Besides, I have a lot of air passing through the apartments because of many angles of exposition, and the living room having no big south facing window is finally an advantage as it keep it rather cool (well, less awfully hot than the rest).

Hope will help future Nanjingers to get an idea.

[cui ruide]

BEIJING DONGCHENG, hutong off Gulou Dong Dajie

Type of accommodation: Rented hutong room/house/place

Description: A cozy little place in what was once a siheyuan courtyard in a hutong off Gulou Dong Dajie. Since 1949 I assume, the actual courtyard has been filled with lots of smaller house-structures. My living room (red futon room) is part of what was actually the northern structure of the siheyuan. The room you first walk into (all tile, separated by windows from my "kitchen" part of my living room) I call the wash-room... This is a later addition. A shower head is under the stairs. On top of all of this has been built a "loft" in the style of the white-siding, blue-trim construction worker housing. Inside is actually nice, with my bed on top of a platform. It included lots of furnishings: washing machine, brand new water heater, tv stand, wardrobe, futon, refrigerator, bid desk, mattress, air conditioner upstairs. Central heat is being installed in the next few months. I actually also have another shack-type structure across from my front door that can be my kitchen, but I decided I might as well keep everything inside and use that for storage (it's pretty small anyway and ferrying foodstuffs and plates, etc. back and forth would be a pain.BUT--the toilet is outside and down the street--public.

Rent: Y2000 a month, paid every 3 months. I pay for electricity in advance with the card system. Not a traditional landlord, but a company rents this to me--not quite sure how I feel about this.

Found via: Walked into a realty agency on Gulou Dong Dajie asked about hutong houses--first with bathroom (usually a toilet next to where you're supposed to cook and Y3000) and then without. Paid them a month's rent for my finder's fee.

Lease: Written and signed lease for a year. To leave it, I give a month's notice. If they find someone, I get my deposit back.

[yueni]

Type of accomodation: Rented studio.

City/Area: Beijing

Rent: 3100rmb/month paid every three months

Location: Haidian District near BLCU's east gate. 10 minutes to BLCU. It's about a 20 minute walk from where I am to the Wudaokou station, but I'm finding myself becoming quite familiar with bus routes in the area, and they're cheaper to boot!

Description: 1 bedroom/living area + kitchen w/ a tiny balcony/sunroom area + bathroom. 52 sq m, iirc. I pay for electricity in advance via an electricity card.

Found via: An agent who was highly recommended to me by a friend. He has proved extremely reliable and helped me shave off a portion of the rent. Considering all the stuff he helped me with throughout the sordid saga of my apartment search, I would recommend him highly to anybody, and if anybody's interested, you can PM me for his contact information.

Came with: Double-bed, desk, wardrobe, dressing table, TV & TV stand, fridge, washing machine, microwave. I was lucky, and the landlord had spent a fortune refurnishing the living area with all brand new furniture one month before I moved in.

Landlord / Building management: Landlord. He's been easy to contact and any problems I have I go directly to him, which has been amazing. When the air conditioning went out, he immediately made an appointment with me to come fix it. I love my landlord. I was expecting a lot of hassle, but it's been remarkably hassle-free.

Notes: This apartment and landlord was a brilliant find. I'm paying more rent than I wanted to originally, but ultimately, having a good landlord and all new furniture is really worth it.

Edited September 8, 2009 at 02:24 PM by yueni

[Brian US]

How much should I expect to pay in utilities in Beijing? I know most people just have their card, but I wanted to budget it out per month after getting my own place. Looking at a 2-3 bedroom apartment, so I assume it will be a bit more.

[Brian US]

Type of accommodation: Rented room.

City/Area: Beijing

Description: 1 bedroom in a 3 bedroom apartment. Shared kitchen, bathroom and living room.

Rent: 1300Y a month, paid every 4 months, plus a 1 month deposit. Utilities are included and 100Y if I want to use the air conditioner for a month. 120Y for internet, but split with another roommate.

Location: Dongwangzhuang in Wudaokou, so basically between BLCU and the train station.

Found via: Agency

Came with: bed, desk, wardrobe, TV, shared fridge, washing machine, water heater, etc

Landlord / Building management: I pay an older Chinese couple that are in the master bedroom.

Notes: 1300 was the high end of my budget, but it was the best I could find in Dongwangzhuang for 1000-1300 price. I tried a few online ads and about four agencies with few options for my budget. A couple agencies would give me a discount but I ended up paying a full month's rent fee because I really wanted my current place. Most apartments I looked at were dirty and/or had many pets. One guy had three yippy dogs, a cat, and wanted 1700 for a small room. The apartment I chose is the only one that didn't have dirty dishes in the sink and the rest is spotless.

I have yet to meet my other roommate (I think she is a Korean girl?) as she rarely comes out of her room. Normally she will run back into her room after using the bathroom, followed with locking the door. I'm heading home soon, so I'll try to offer her some American treats when I get back to break the ice.

I was also not aware of having to pay some sort of residence tax around 100Y a month. My Chinese is pretty bad and this concept was the one thing I did not understand with the lease. I knew I had to register my new address, but my landlord wanted an extra 50Y per month. My friend explained he probably split the 100Y tax with me.

[yigedeguoren]

Type of accommodation: Rented studio.

City/Area: Shanghai.

Description: 1 bedroom, 1 small kitchen, 2 small bathrooms and balcony. 35m^2.

Rent: 3100Y/month, paid every 2 months, plus a 1 month deposit, plus bills ~400Y/month.

Location: Directly opposite of Shanghai Stadium, 751 Ling Ling Lu, House 4 (the reddish one), Room 411. [i've moved out since ;-)]

Found via: Local agency on Ling Ling Lu.

Came with: bed, desk, wardrobe, TV, fridge, washing machine, water heater, etc.

Landlord / Building management: I paid cash to an old couple owning the apartments.

Notes: This was the perfect location for me plus the studio was brand new, that kind of justified the very high price. But I have to admit, it is extremely expensive, so soon as you move out of this hotspot Xujiahui the prices drop quickly. The landlord was a good guy, but his wife was extremely greedy and not diplomatic at all, but I was never surprised by that, 上海女人 :-)

[skylee]

I have just signed an agreement to rent another apartment next month -

Type of accommodation: newly renovated unfurnished apartment.

City/Area: Hong Kong

Description: over 750 sq. feet. 3 bedrooms, 1 toilet, 1 toilet+bathroom, 1 kitchen, 1 balcony.

Rent: 2-year contract. HKD 18,500 per month (including management fee and tax). Two months' rent as deposit. Rent paid in advance by cheque on a monthly basis.

Location: Eastern District, Hong Kong Island. The same housing estate that I am living in.

Found via: Agency

Came with: (unfurnished) window curtains, 4 air-conditioners, lights and water heater only.

Landlord / Building management: landlords are retirees (obviously with several such apartments earning rents).

I don't need so much space, really, but I have housing allowance so I thought why not. This is a bargain as the rent is lower than market price and I get full seaview in the living room plus a balcony. But the landlords have requested to include quite strange and kind of unfair conditions in the contract - 1) No sharing of the apartment. 2) They will visit the apartment after the first 12 months. I was quite upset about the no-sharing clause as it is kind of unreasonable (meaning I can't live with someone or get married and also live there). But I accepted it because the place is such a good bargain (the landlords choose me and lower the rent because they like the fact that I live alone), and it is very unlikely that I would share the place (or anything else for that matter) in the foreseeable future.

Will report again when I have moved in.

Edited March 1, 2010 at 01:10 PM by skylee

[joneeboy72]

Changchun City, Jilin, near university. Reputed to be lowest price for property of any provincial capital,120 Sq mtr 3bth fully furnished 42 inch LCD,weith fla, 85:clap0rmb /month,+ 100rmb for telephone and internet.free winter heating,3rd floor flat in 8 floor building, 3 years old, small gated compound 24 hr security, in good area,near tram stop.Brilliant landlord, lives in same block.We rent it all year round but only use it for 6 or 7 months a year, because we are in our UK house or travelling for the rest.