Before signing a lease, check the ownership certificate and any mortgage, and pay everything by transfer with the purpose noted

Cost

Free. Take your ID to the real-estate registration office (不动产登记机构) once, and the check takes half an hour. The hard part is getting the landlord to show the ownership certificate in person.

What you get

Before signing, the landlord must show you proof of identity and the real-estate ownership certificate. A landlord with no certificate must produce other documents proving the right to rent the place out. The landlord must also cooperate when you look up and verify the home's information, which is a duty that administrative regulations place on the lessor. If you haven't signed a contract yet, take your ID to the real-estate registration office of the city or county where the home is, and you can look up several things. What you can find out is: the basic facts about the home, whether there are co-owners, whether there is a mortgage or a right-of-residence registration, and whether it has been sealed. After signing, you can use the lease contract to look up the registration result. This step matters because the rule "a sale does not break a lease" has two exceptions. If the home was mortgaged to a bank before it was rented out and was later auctioned to pay the debt, you cannot demand that the new owner let you stay under the original contract. The same goes for a home that a court had already sealed before it was rented out. When a court auctions a home and the lease gets in the way of an earlier mortgage right, the court removes the lease before the auction. Conversely, if the home was rented to you first and you had moved in, and the landlord only mortgaged it afterward, the mortgage does not affect your lease. If the home is sealed or its ownership is disputed so that you cannot live there, you can end the contract. If someone else asserts a right and you cannot live there, you can demand to pay less rent or none. Paying everything by transfer with a note such as "rent for such-and-such home, such month" is the author's experience: if a dispute comes up, it shows that you paid and what the money was for.

Notes

Of the things you can look up before signing a contract, who the owner is is not one. So match the name on the ownership certificate against the landlord's ID in person. Have the landlord come to the signing in person, and if the landlord cannot, ask for a power of attorney. If a sublandlord (二房东) is subletting to you, you need the original landlord's written consent. For rights such as ending the contract or paying less rent, if the landlord does not accept them you have to sue in court. A first-instance case under the ordinary procedure takes at least 6 months, and you generally pay your own lawyer's fees. No regulation directly requires noting the purpose on a transfer; that is the author's experience. You can run the same check before signing a contract to buy a second-hand home, and after signing you also need to register an advance notice (预告登记); see §15.14 (advance notice registration).

Evidence grade

A : Specific numbers from meta-analyses, large cohorts or randomized trials; for law and policy, the statute or official text.

Sources

1. 国务院 (2025). 住房租赁条例（国令第 812 号，2025 年 9 月 15 日施行）（第九条第一项：「向承租人出示身份证明材料、拟出租住房的不动产权属证书或者其他证明其具有合法出租权利的材料，并配合承租人依法查询、核实拟出租住房有关信息」）. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202507/content_7032956.htm
2. 自然资源部 (2024 修正). 不动产登记资料查询暂行办法（第八、十九、二十、二十一条）. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2024/issue_11506/202408/content_6966482.html
3. 自然资源部 (2025). 关于修改《不动产登记资料查询暂行办法》的决定（自然资源部令第 18 号，第二十一条第三项改为「不动产是否存在抵押权登记、预告登记、异议登记或者居住权登记等情形」）. https://www.gov.cn/gongbao/2026/issue_12546/202602/content_7057456.html
4. 全国人大 (2020). 民法典（第四百零五、七百二十三、七百二十四、七百二十五条）. https://www.spp.gov.cn/spp/fl/202006/t20200602_463888.shtml
5. 最高人民法院 (2020). 关于修改《最高人民法院关于在民事审判工作中适用〈中华人民共和国工会法〉若干问题的解释》等二十七件民事类司法解释的决定（法释〔2020〕17 号，第二十一项第 6 点修改城镇房屋租赁合同解释原第二十条，条文顺序调整后为第十四条：「（一）房屋在出租前已设立抵押权，因抵押权人实现抵押权发生所有权变动的；（二）房屋在出租前已被人民法院依法查封的」）. https://www.court.gov.cn/fabu/xiangqing/282621.html
6. 最高人民法院 (2004). 关于人民法院民事执行中拍卖、变卖财产的规定（法释〔2004〕16 号，第三十一条第二款；法释〔2020〕21 号删去第五至七条后为第二十八条第二款）. https://www.court.gov.cn/shenpan/xiangqing/713.html
7. 最高人民法院 (2020). 关于修改《最高人民法院关于人民法院扣押铁路运输货物若干问题的规定》等十八件执行类司法解释的决定（法释〔2020〕21 号）. https://www.court.gov.cn/fabu/xiangqing/282661.html
8. 证据留存与转账备注同理见第 8 节关于彩礼和借条的两条

Translated from the Chinese original. Original book, section 15, tip 6. Content may be out of date and rules differ by place. When you actually deal with an agency, a doctor or a court, follow what local officials, doctors and lawyers tell you. Disclaimer