One unhappy tenant

Normally you see threads by unhappy landlords and their tenants. This thread is different because I'm the unhappy tenant having a quick rant about my landlord.

I rent an apartment in a large sized Chinese city. I'd say the building my apartment is in is around 30 years old. The kitchen sink has been having issues and leaking in the apartment below. The landlord wanted me to stop using the kitchen sink until she could get it repaired. Fine I can live with that.

Now she wants to do major repairs to the Kitchen and bathroom that will take two days. Thursday and Friday.

The problems are
-during these two days she wants me to hang out baby sitting the workers in the mornings while she is out buying materials
- I'll need to find somewhere to crash Thursday night because there will be no toilet

The lease is up for renewal next month so If I kick up a fuss, I'll need to find a new apartment which I really don't want to do.

I can imagine the fuss my tenants would make if I tried this on them in Melbourne.

Thank you for reading my rant. I'm now going to grin, bear it and try to see the humorous side.
 
sorry can't resist, but I got this in an email today and my first thought to your story was this picture.

Painted_Floor.jpg
 
Ahhh the joys of living in China.
Remember it well.

I lived in Nantong, Jiangsu for 2 yrs. Many such issues but loved every minute of it.
 
The lease is up for renewal next month so If I kick up a fuss, I'll need to find a new apartment which I really don't want to do.

No worries - by Saturday you'll be laughing. It'll go by in a flash.


I can imagine the fuss my tenants would make if I tried this on them in Melbourne.

Try not to compare yourself with those whinging ******, egged on by Tenancy Advocates.


I'm now going to grin, bear it and try to see the humorous side.

Top attitude - well done. Who knows, you might even get your Lease renewed because of your yielding attitude.

BTW - how much rent are you paying....$ 20 per month ??
 
Have to say.. the picture was golden! :)

OP: Looking at the way chinese people rent in Beijing I can understand this in China, either demand like their locals or put up with it. Seems your willing to do the later, so all is good :) BTW. just incase anyone think this is racist, I am asian origin as well :p
 
I am not familiar with Chinese law but in Australia that would not be on!
You could issue a tribunal order to a landlord and force them to have maintenance done including fixing a sink.
They would not be able to leave you without a place to stay overnight and you can make a claim about renewing the lease.

do they do it on the day? Should it not have been renewed by now?

Is there a government body who can help like the tenancy tribunals in Australia.

I feel for you and all the best. X
 
i have a girlfriend who lived in china for a few years with her hubby and two kids. all the appartments were so small, all the tenants did their cooking on camp cookers out in the stairwell.

they also lived briefly in a town that had a huge dam next to it ... raw sewerage was pumped in one end of the dam and the drinking water out of the other. stomachs of steel!

after their 3rd child she insisted they come back to australia and work remotely.
 
When I was eight months pregnant my hubby removed our toilet on a Sunday and promised me I would have a toilet by the next weekend :eek:
 
No worries - by Saturday you'll be laughing. It'll go by in a flash.

Try not to compare yourself with those whinging ******, egged on by Tenancy Advocates.

Top attitude - well done. Who knows, you might even get your Lease renewed because of your yielding attitude.

BTW - how much rent are you paying....$ 20 per month ??

Hi Dazz, rent comes down to around $175 Auss a month for a small 2 bdrm unit on the 7th floor 5 minutes walk from major park and 10 minutes walk from CBD. Great deal by our standards, reasonable deal by local standards.

When I was eight months pregnant my hubby removed our toilet on a Sunday and promised me I would have a toilet by the next weekend :eek:

Wow, what did you do? Hire a portable toilet?
 
Last edited:
Hi Dazz, rent comes down to around $175 Auss for a small 2 bdrm unit on the 7th floor 5 minutes walk from major park and 10 minutes walk from CBD. Great deal by our standards, reasonable deal by local standards.

Is that per week or per month ??

Either way, you are onto a great deal. What is the unit worth ??

Could I presume you are paying the Landlord less than 2% yield with that rent.
 
Is that per week or per month ??

Either way, you are onto a great deal. What is the unit worth ??

Could I presume you are paying the Landlord less than 2% yield with that rent.

Oops, fixed that up with an edit. Per month. A really rough guess is it is worth $100k. No matter how far off I am with the price, yield is extremely low. One reason why I'm not keen to buy here when you can easily get 4-6% in Auss.
 
Oops, fixed that up with an edit. Per month. A really rough guess is it is worth $100k. No matter how far off I am with the price, yield is extremely low.

:eek: :eek: Yep, that's 2.1% gross yield you are paying the Landlord :eek: :eek:


There are quite a few people on here who would love to have you as their Tenant, especially if you were really nice, which you seem to be. On this forum, you would typically be called a "really great Tenant". :)
 
Wow, what did you do? Hire a portable toilet?

Luckily we had a lovely neighbour who had an outside loo which she was happy for me to use. Anybody who has been through a pregnancy knows that going to the loo every hour or so is "normal" when you have a big baby pressing on your bladder, so I traipsed across the back yard and across her side yard a few times through the night for the whole week (and, of course, during the day, the evening, the morning etc :eek:).

Sometimes I would be heading back across the yard when I needed to go again :eek:.

After a few nights, I was pretty much "over it" and used to squat for a wee in the back yard :p.

I remind my husband about this adventure every now and then :p.
 
Back
Top