These tips describe mainland-China rules and do not apply in the United States; they are here for people living in China.
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📝Put the deposit amount, the refund date and the grounds for deductions in the rental contract
How much the deposit is, when it will be returned, and what can be deducted from it should all be written into the contract before you sign. A reason for deduction that isn't in the contract can't be used by the landlord to take money out of your deposit when you move out.
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🚪If the landlord cuts off water or power, changes the locks or comes to threaten you into leaving, call the police and keep evidence: regulations forbid forcing you out this way
A landlord may not cut off your water or power, change the locks, or come and threaten you to make you end the lease or move out. Regulations expressly forbid it. If it happens, call the police first. The police record is evidence you can use later to demand compensation for your losses. Don't try to confront the other person yourself.
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🏦A rental agent may not collect or pay rent and deposits on your behalf: pay the landlord directly
Under the rules, rent and deposits cannot be collected and paid through an agent, and the money goes straight to the landlord. Each time the money passes through the agent, there is one more chance for it to run off with the funds. If it does, you lose the rent you paid and the landlord can still evict you. Before paying, check that the payee's name matches the name on the property ownership certificate.
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🔒Before renting from a long-term rental company, check its funds supervision account, and don't pay a whole year at once for a small discount
Paying a year at once gets you only a small discount. If the company collapses, your deposit and the 10-odd months of rent still left are lost together. A rent loan (租金贷) is worse: if the company disappears, you still have to repay the loan month by month. Before signing, check whether it publicly lists a funds supervision account.
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🏠If the home is sold during your lease, the lease stays valid and you don't have to move out
If the home is sold during your lease term, your lease still stands. The new owner has to let you live there under the original contract until it ends. You don't have to move, and you don't have to renegotiate the price. This assumes you are already lawfully living there, so keep the contract, transfer records and proof of when you moved in.
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🏦When an agent collects the payment for a second-hand home, it must go through the dedicated transaction-funds deposit account the agent opened at a bank
The price of a home runs from hundreds of thousands to millions of yuan, the largest single payment in this book. When an agent collects the payment, the rules require it to go through the dedicated account the agent opened at a bank, not a WeChat transfer to the broker personally. Also, when two agencies work one deal together, only one commission can be charged, and arranging a loan or handling the title transfer requires a separate contract with the fees stated beforehand.
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🏘️Don't rent a partitioned room: the smallest unit that can be rented is a room as originally designed, and kitchens, bathrooms and balconies may not be lived in
Under the rules, the smallest unit that can be rented out is a room as originally designed. Kitchens, bathrooms, balconies and underground storage rooms may not be lived in. If such a unit is penalized after an inspection, you may have to move out. Also, during the lease term the landlord cannot raise the rent just by saying so.
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🌾If you hold an urban hukou and want to live in the countryside, only rent a farmhouse, and don't buy homestead land or a house built on it
People with an urban hukou (城镇户口) cannot buy homestead land (宅基地), a farmer's house or a "small-property-rights home" (小产权房) in a village, and national documents expressly forbid it. It does not help if villagers say "just write a contract." You pay the money and the house still doesn't become yours. If you want to live in the countryside long term, sign a lease, which can run for up to 20 years at a time and be renewed when it ends.
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🏗️When you buy a home off-plan (期房), first check the pre-sale permit (预售许可证), and pay the deposit, down payment and loan only into the pre-sale funds supervision account named in the contract
An off-plan home is one that goes on sale before it is built. Without a pre-sale permit, the developer may not sell it or take a deposit. The rules require your down payment and loan to go entirely into the supervision account, and the supervision is lifted only once the home can be delivered. Money sent to any other account is outside this protection.
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🧾If you paid a subscription deposit (认购定金) or a down payment on a new home, and no formal contract was signed or the loan was not approved (for example because policy tightened or the bank stopped lending after signing) and it is not your fault, demand a refund from the developer
If you paid a subscription deposit and no formal contract was signed, or the contract says a loan will be used but the loan is not approved, and the cause lies neither with you nor with the developer (for example, policy tightened or the bank stopped lending after signing), the developer must refund the deposit or the purchase payment with interest. If the cause is your own overdue payments on your credit record or insufficient income, the deposit is not refunded.
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📏Before signing a contract for a new home, read how an area discrepancy is handled, and photograph and keep the promises in the sales brochure, the ads and the sand-table model
If the contract says nothing else, and the area registered after handover differs from the contract by 3% or less, the price is settled on the actual area (refund the excess, make up the shortfall). If the difference is more than 3%, you can return the home, and the developer must refund your money plus interest within 30 days. Specific promises in ads about the community's homes and facilities, if they affect whether you buy, count even when they are not written into the contract.
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📅If a developer delivers a new home late or is late in getting your property certificate, first send a written demand and keep the evidence, then claim the penalty under the contract
If the developer delivers late, first press it in writing; if it still has not delivered within three months, you can cancel the purchase. If the contract has no penalty clause, the developer pays you the rent for similar homes in the same location. If you cannot get the property ownership certificate (产权证) because of the developer, you are also compensated; if the delay goes more than one year past the certificate deadline, you can cancel the purchase. The right to cancel has a time limit, so don't keep putting off a decision.
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🔎Before signing a contract to buy a home, find out whether it is sealed by a court or mortgaged, and after signing go to the real-estate registration office to register an advance notice (预告登记)
Before signing, take your ID to the real-estate registration office (不动产登记机构) and check whether the home is mortgaged or sealed, and whether it has already been registered to someone else. If the contract provides for advance notice registration, go and do it right after signing. Once it is done, if the seller sells or mortgages the home again without your consent, the registration office will not process it. Once the formal transfer becomes possible, you have to act within 90 days, or the notice lapses.
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📉If you carry a floating-rate mortgage and your rate is noticeably higher than the rate on newly issued mortgages, ask the bank to lower it or apply to replace the loan
A mortgage rate is a benchmark rate plus a few points. The added points used to be fixed when you signed; since 2024 you are allowed to renegotiate them with the bank. If your rate is noticeably higher than the nationwide rate on newly issued mortgages, you can ask the bank to lower it, or apply for a new loan to replace the old one. On a loan of 1,000,000 (100万) CNY over 30 years, a rate half a percentage point lower saves about 100,000 (10万) CNY in interest.
