Landlord Troubles

This thread should be made a classic...stick it in the Library for others' future reference on how to negotiate with a landlord in China.

Well done, fozz and wife!

 

This thread should be made a classic...stick it in the Library for others' future reference on how to negotiate with a landlord in China.

Well done, fozz and wife!

 

cheers! one less  thing to stress about ;-)

Glad to hear it worked out reasonably well.

Good on ya Fozz. Glad you have another two years in the place before you have to deal with the landlord again!

so, just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water

...

she sent the contract to us today (the rent was due yesterday) with a few previously unmentioned ammendments

1. that we need to pay a whole years rent in advance

2. that we need to pay an extra fee as deposit (since the rent has gone up then the previous deposit no longet covers a month's rent)


To the first I said bullshit, if you want a year in advance you need to give us a discount. She backed off.

I only found out about the second change after this, to which I said, bullshit. We pay the money agreed, no new deposits. This is unheard of right?

No response since.

Like I said previously, she's obviously stuck for money and is trying everything she can think of, every chance she gets. And she knows once the contract is signed then that is it for 2 years.

She's really overplaying her hand here. The rent is overdue and every day she delays is another day that she doesn't have our money. If she asks us to go then that is several months rent down the drain at least as she tries to find somebody new.

And yet she tries her arm. Stupid. Thinks we are stupid.

Children think adults are stupid.

Your landlord is such a piece of work. I would be willing to bet she's got someone behind the scenes telling her what to do, pulling the strings so to speak. A brother, uncle, mother, someone, possibly even a group of someones must be provoking her. I've found that to be true in a good majority of situations like these -- people fall victim to some sort of distorted groupthink and work themselves up into a frenzy of righteous indignation.

In China the law favors you as the tenant. It is very hard for a landlord to actually evict you (they can resort to thuggery, of course, but the police will generally not force people out of a home, at least according to my husband). Especially since, as you pointed out, you owe her back rent so she actually at this point stands to lose more than she would gain. So much BS.

Your landlord is such a piece of work. I would be willing to bet she's got someone behind the scenes telling her what to do, pulling the strings so to speak. A brother, uncle, mother, someone, possibly even a group of someones must be provoking her. I've found that to be true in a good majority of situations like these -- people fall victim to some sort of distorted groupthink and work themselves up into a frenzy of righteous indignation.

In China the law favors you as the tenant. It is very hard for a landlord to actually evict you (they can resort to thuggery, of course, but the police will generally not force people out of a home, at least according to my husband). Especially since, as you pointed out, you owe her back rent so she actually at this point stands to lose more than she would gain. So much BS.

Yeah you might be right. Methinks this is her new 'lao gong' who came to inspect the place just before all this kicked off.

Also, I think she really is stuck for money and possibly desperate.

Anyway, I'm in no hurry to pay. Silly woman playing silly games.

I think I would also start looking around for another apartment 'just in case' 

sound advice, DS. Always have a plan B, especially in China
TLD:

I would be willing to bet she's got someone behind the scenes telling her what to do, pulling the strings so to speak.

I was thinking the same thing. Well meant advice is not always good advice. And reading that

Methinks this is her new 'lao gong'...

and

Also, I think she really is stuck for money and possibly desperate.

I have to wonder if the rent game has something to do with someone else's mahjong game. Yeah, just because the dots are in close proximity doesn't mean they are connected.

she wrote an angry text to my wife today saying that she has already conceded too much to us, that she really doesn't know what we are thinking, that renting this apartment is really so much trouble and that if we don't like it we should find somewhere else...

we feel we haven't asked for anything, that we've just tried to limit the demands that she has made on us

man, so much hystrionics, so much drama...

we are going to ignore her for a couple of days and see what happens

by the way the rent was due on Sunday 

worst comes to worst we just top up the deposit, but let's let her sweat for a little while first ...

How much is the top up, just 200rmb -- original deposit was one month's rent, you agreed to pay 200 more a month, right? In the end I would probably give in on that point, but nothing more.

Do you think it is going to be this sort of BS every year?

For me, it's usually more about the strange communication, hystrionics, etc., than just the money. If I think I know the market value, then I can accept or reject a raise, but I have a hard time dealing with indirect communication like this.

How much is the top up, just 200rmb -- original deposit was one month's rent, you agreed to pay 200 more a month, right? In the end I would probably give in on that point, but nothing more.

Do you think it is going to be this sort of BS every year?

it's actually more than that ... it's is more complicated than I made out in the thread (for the sake of narrative) so if we were to top up then it would actually be a bigger top up... I prolly will give in given that this is the last time I will have to deal with her for 2 years hopefully...

and GZ writer, yes you're right, it is the communication that is the issue

this isn't helped that my wife is away on holiday so I'm getting all of this second hand

So we caved on the deposit point.

I asked around my Chinese colleagues and to top up a rent raise, as long as it is accompanied by new contract, is legally ok and not unusual. Though they all agreed that it reflects badly on the landlord that she pushed for it.

She is by all accounts 小心眼儿

So. That should be that. But we still haven't got the new contract off her SO YOU NEVER KNOW