Winter fee in Beijing

[arnar]

My landlord wants us to pay 2400 kuai each for winter fee. I think he's ripping us off. Does anyone know what this is?

[muyongshi]

There's another 2500 fee for you asking this question. I accept credit card, cash or check.... :mrgreen:

I don't live in Beijing but it sounds fishy...

[gato]

Ask what it is for. It might be for the heat.

[roddy]

Should have been specified when you signed a lease (have a look, maybe it's on there).

Pretty much all apartments in Beijing will incur a heating fee over the winter, collected by whoever manages the apartments and paid by whoever owns it - ie the landlord. Some landlords will pass the fee onto the tenant, either by specifying it in the lease or knocking on the door around this time of year and asking for the money.

Obviously it's best to know in advance, and it can be another bargaining chip when you are negotiating the lease. Have a look, it might actually be on there, or it might be covered in the sense of 'Tenant will pay X, Y and Z' and you can therefore claim that the heating fee is not your responsibility.

Of the four places I rented in Beijing, one was leased by the school so I don't know how it worked, the second I was meant to pay but in the end didn't stay over a winter, third I paid (I think I might have offered to do this in exchange for the rent not going up, can't remember) and the fourth the landlord paid.

I don't think there are any hard and fast rules about it - it just depends on what's in your lease and what you can work out with the landlord.

[gougou]

But is it really that much? I faintly can remember paying some heating fee a while back, but I'd be surprised if it had been that much.

[roddy]

I seem to remember the figure of RMB24 per square meter of your building, so RMB2400 isn't out of the ball park.

[muyongshi]

But per person? That would be 200 square meters and that seems like a pretty big apartment...

[roddy]

Didn't notice the 'each' - that does sound dubious.

[arnar]

We ended up paying 750 each, . But from what me flatmates tell me our landlord is a real snake.

[jeffofarabia]

The heat is on pretty high in most apartments so i can see that being a fair price for the entire winter. Imagine if they turned it off?

[cdn_in_bj]

How come you guys are all paying the winter heating fee? In my limited experience, and also after asking the locals, you can usually (but not always) negotiate this out.

[gougou]

you can usually (but not always) negotiate this out.

You can negotiate anything out. Usually, you'll find it in your monthly rent then. So if they agree to pay it for you, you probably are paying too much every month

[roddy]

Yeah, it's just another bargaining chip. The fact that my landlord pays mine makes me feel better when people tell me my rent is too high.