I Before visiting properties:

What’s the service charge for home search through Clydesdale Destination Services?

Following the market rate, we charge our client 50% for the brokerage including the first year's follow up service.

What types of housing are available in Hangzhou expat rental market?

There are apartments, villas (including townhouse and detached houses) and serviced apartment.

What’s the difference between serviced apartment and hotel？

In the level of decoration and size&layout, serviced apartment is pretty much same as hotel. However, serviced apartments in most case come with cooking space (kitchen) and laundry machine whereas hotels don't.

When is the best time to start home search?

You are advised to start visiting the houses 1 month before your lease commencement date, as too early the landlord is not willing to wait as the vacancy period they are not able to get rental income. If you want to come and see earlier, it's no problem however you are not likely to choose the final home as it's too early. But we are able to show you so we can narrow down what you are really looking for.

Do we need to bring our own furniture in renting apartment in Hangzhou?

There are furnished properties as well as unfurnished properties. The proportion of furnished apartment to unfurnished apartment is 9:1 in the market, which means there are less availabilities of unfurnished option. In normal sense the rental price for unfurnished apartment is lower than the furnished apartment. However if landlord originally have furniture and you asked him to remove furniture, the rental price is not necessarily lower than furnished apartment.

Will the property still be available till I made a decision of which one to rent?

It depends. During negotiation, landlord has a latest acceptable commencement date, if you can not accept this date, there is no agreement reached, so landlord will still keep seeking for tenant meaning the apartment is not secured.

Where to submit my housing requirements?

You can submit your housing requirements in our website, (CLICK HERE). Our consultant will contact you within 2 working hours.

II Home Visit and Lease Negotiation

What will be provided by Clydesdale housing consultants during home visiting trips?

We will provide welcome kit which includes introduction of Hangzhou, Map of Hangzhou and information list of the properties to be seen.

What shall I pay attention to during home visit?

Most of the apartments in China is not equipped to expat standard: There is no oven; washer is without hot water and without dryer; no dishwasher; mattresses are rock hard; curtain can not blind the sun lights; there might be voltage problem if you intend to bring appliances from home; an floor heating? Don't take everything for granted, it might not be there in properties here. So please ask Clydesdale consultants to check and we may be able to get it from landlord.

What fees will be included in the rental?

Normally price is net price excluding other costs. If you need a package price, you can let us know what fees you need to include. Of course those not included will be paid by you if you need. Below is the fees might involve in renting a property:

Compound management fee: paid for compound for garbage cleaning, sewage, security, gardening etc;

Lease Tax: Paid to government tax bureau to have the lease tax invoice;

Internet

Satellite TV with Foreign channels

Cluhouse membership

Cleaning services

Public energy consumption cost

Utility fees (allowance?)

How much is utility fees and how to pay the bills?

Please refer to our guidence article (CLIKC HERE) for information about this topic.

What are the factors that impacts the rental price?

1 Decoration/ Furniture/Appliance Equipment: The better conditions are, the higher rental landlord asks.

2 Floor level: Higher floor with better view comes with higher asking rental prices.

3 Lease Terms and Conditions: Disfavored company terms (like monthly payment, no-cash deposit etc) incures higher asking rental price.

4 Landlord Expectations: Different landlords have different expectation of rental income even thought their apartments are exactly the same.

How long shall I sign the lease?

In Hangzhou the standard lease is signed one year. Landlord may not consider lease term shorter than one year. You can also ask us to get longer lease for you if you want.

When shall we pay the deposit?

Deposit is paid normally when signing the lease contract.

How often and how to pay rental?

In Hangzhou the standard rental paying is every three months (seasonal) in advance. However a part of landlord would only accept 6 month payment or 12 month in advance. A longer period payment is also used to reduce the price down.

What does FAPIAO means?

Fapiao is pinyin equivalence for Tax invoice. This is paid to tax bureau so as to get the official tax receipt. It is a principally required to be paid by landlords however practically lot of lease are signed without lease invoice as if tax is charged it will increase the rental.

What is early termination option?

Termination options is tenant can early terminate the lease without penalty clause and this is normally in lease longer than 1 year as the first 12 month is fixed lease term with the longer lease over 12 month tenant is easier to get the termination option. This is also a way to prevent landlord increasing rental at renewal negotiation.

What is renewal/extension option?

Renewal/extension option means you can have the right to decide whether to renew when lease terminates whereas landlord could not choose to rent property to rent other people. Normally this renewal option would regulates how long lease term and how much the rental will be in the renewal period.

Can I make adjustments by myself (like painting the walls) ?

You can but you must get written approval from landlord. Landlord welcome you to replace his things with better quality ones (who does not?) but if you make adjustment without prior agreement from landlord then the customization might be costly.

Negotiation Tips?

Negotiate before you sign contract. After you sign you are stuck until lease is up. So make the agreement counts in written form! You can trade for something you want more (for example rental reduction) with something you are more flexible with (for example longer lease term or better payment pattern). Back-up options is good to have if the first option does not work out.

Is the contract bilingual?

Yes, our Clydesdale Standard Lease Contract is with both English and Chinese.

Is pet allowed?

This depends on the acceptance of the landlord. Some landlords have ZERO tolerance towards pet, some landlords are indifferent to tenants keeping pets. There are two approaches for this, one is tell the landlord before signing and landlord will say either OK not not OK. Another is not mentioning to landlord but please do take care of the protection work of home equipment, as the damage of pets claw could result in unreasonable compensation.

Not-on contract items?

If some items (improvements or better condition for tenant) are not on the contract and you want it after signing, sorry it’s not likely you can get it as they are disfavored from landlord’s point of view. So we advise you to think of getting all terms that you want on the contract.

II Check-in and after

How to make make sure landlord has done what contract regulates to prepare the property?

Our follow up support manager will go through a pre-check of the property and make sure landlords has done due improvements.

What support will I receive from Clydesdale consultants when checking-in?

Our support manager will accompany you going through the inventory list, record the meter readings, make photo/word records of the existing damages as this step is very important: we will keep the record till end of the lease and so as landlord would not be able to ask you for compensation for those damages which are not done by you. Also our support manager will teach you how to use the appliances and provide you with English translation if the control is only Chinese.

How to handle pending bills before I move in?

Our support manager will calculate how much the pendings bills are, and discuss with you and landlord how to handle.

Is there some thing I need to do after move in?

Yes within 24 hours of moving in, you are required by police office to do a address register (it’s also compulsory when your visa is changed/renewed).

How to pay utilities?

You can refer to our article (CLICK THIS) see more information about it.

Besides our tenancy management service includes a finance management which is to handle bills for you so you don’t need to worry about bills. For details please ask your support manager.

How to apply for Internet?

Our support manager will help with it and help you set up the wifi ready.

Who I shall contact if I need help?

Clydesdale support manager is like your butler, we are always ready to provide help for you. We will always be there to provide support thoughout the lease term.