You are tired of living in a feelingless hotel or serviced apartment, or you want to have a genuine taste of the local way of life. You started looking for a house in one of the densely populated China cities. Oh, it is never so hard to find a suitable house. You have so many obstacles and un-familiarities waiting for you.

Like in your home country, China real estate market is never transparent and the information is not readily available to outsiders. You have to find a reliable real estate agency to help you along the process. There are many agencies solely providing relocation services to expats in big Chinese cities. You can easily find them by searching on the internet or by asking your friends. In many cases, your company’s HR department already has a contracted relocation agency.

If you are without family, any house to your liking will do. If you have children, you’d better check whether the house is close to international schools. In China villas are often with international education available around the corner.

In China the normal leasing term is 1 to 2 years long. If you need to have a 6 month leasing contract, you have to negotiate very hard, and the rental will be higher than the market level for full year contract.

Although most Chinese copies of the leasing contract have an English version, the Chinese copy will be the sole one used as reference by a court in the case of a dispute.

The rent is paid normally every three months in China and you have to pay 2 months’ rent as deposit which is to ensure compensation for damages caused by the tenant or breach of contract. You pay the period rent before you start to use the rent period.

Rent is usually paid in local cash, 3 to 7 days before every section of term begins. If you have a Chinese bank account, you can pay by money transfer.

After you paid the rent, ask the landlord for the tax receipts. You need to use them in Chinese corporate bookkeeping or for any type of tax deductions in China.

The management fees charged by the property management company to cover the cost of maintenance, security and amenities are normally included in the rent, but in some cases you shall negotiate about who shall pay these fees. So be sure to check this point with the landlord.

In most cases, rental does not include utility bills. Tenants pay all the gas, water, electricity, and telephone charges. You can pay these charges at bank or the post office. If you are in Shanghai, they can be paid at any convenient stores like FamilyMart, Kedi or Lawson. Electricity, phone and Internet are billed monthly, while water and gas is billed bimonthly. If you hire a housekeeper, you can ask her to do all the leg jobs.

Before moving in, you’d better check the house yourself or with the help of your company’s human resources department. You shall make sure the property is cleaned up and all appliances are in working order. You shall check carefully all the items on the inventory list. If there is any anomaly, be sure to write it down on the inventory and sign it by both parties. While doing the pre-move-in inspection, the real estate agent will look for the water, electricity and gas meter readings and write them down on the contract.

Deposits are usually returned to you on the last day of your leasing contract after you and the landlord have checked the apartment. If you default on the leasing contract before its life ends, the landlord will keep your 2 months deposit.