Temporary residence registration

[Moving_away]

Hi all,

I have a question which is quite on short term notice. I just moved to China and lived for these days in my girlfriends room without registering at the PSB because it would only be for these few weeks. Now we are looking for a new place (already since before I arrived) but everyone keeps blowing us off because of me being a foreigner. They think it is too much of a hassle to help me with registering, or don't want to be registered as renting out their house because of the tax (understandable, although we even offered to pay that ourselves) etc. Did any of you also have this problem, how did you solve it or is there a way around it? I'd really appreciate your help because our current flat is really due (we're already packed up for a few days and actually, with agreement ofcourse, already overstaying the contract). Thank you in advance.

[anonymoose]

What tax are you talking about? In Shanghai, I've had no problem at all. Just go to an estate agent, tell them what kind of place you are looking for, and they should be able to arrange the rest. I'm surprised you are facing that much discrimination. Anyway, the estate agent can ask the landlord first if it's OK before you waste any time looking at any places. (You will have to pay a 35% fee of one month's rent to the agent, though, if you find somewhere through them).

[roddy]

Those fees vary pretty widely, and we don't know which city we're talking about.

There's a tax on rental income which landlords love to avoid. This is sometimes inaccurately referred to as a 'foreigner's tax' as the PSB registration makes it harder to avoid, hence some people either don't want to rent to foreigners, or will add the amount (5%?) to the bill. However, it's a tax on rent earned, not rent paid, and it's the landlords responsibility.

How the actual process works depends on where you are. In my experience in Beijing the PSB just look at the contract and that's it as far as I'm concerned. If they're informing the tax folk that this apartment is being rented, I don't know. When I was up in Dalian the PSB wouldn't register me without a document certifying the lease had been registered somewhere so that tax could be collected.

As for your actual case - registering can sometimes be pretty easy, you could just take a place and then turn up to register yourself and hope they don't need anything extra from the landlord. Or look at more expensive places

The trouble is that there's massive variation in how registration is handled not just across cities, but also across local police stations. Makes it very hard to give any concrete advice. One option might be for you or your girlfriend to go down to the police station which covers the area you're looking at and ask what the actual requirements are - then you can explain to the landlord.

[gougou]

Now that I need a receipt for reimbursement with my employer, I'm being asked to pay the 5% tax. Before, that never was an issue - despite registration at the PSB, so I suppose that doesn't mean the landlord automatically has to pay taxes. Or they quietly shouldered it, which I find less likely...

Here in Beijing, I only had one place where I was not allowed to live because of being a foreigner - and that's of seven flats I lived in and a multiple of that that I looked at.