Making payments onto Chinese bank accounts

[Brian US]

I just moved into a new apartment and the landlord wants me to make payments through his bank account. He gave me the account number and the name of the account holder. He originally wanted 12 months rent up front, which I literally laughed at, but settled for 6 months. My landlord lives out of town and the agency I went through said to contact them if there is a problem.

My question is if this is very common practice in China and how reliable is it?

[liuzhou]

I pay my rent directly into the landlord's bank account. In eight years, never had a problem. Just keep the receipts.

I pay three months (in advance) at a time, but that is my choice. The contract only requires one. 

[gougou]

It's pretty common and quite reliable. I helped a friend pay her application fee for Nottingham University in Ningbo recently, so even established international institutions use this method. If you have an account yourself, you can wire it; if not, you can turn up at any bank (ideally a branch of the bank where he has his account so you won't have to pay the interbank fee) and pay in cash. Make sure not to make a mistake about the account number as you won't be able to get the money back, and do remember to bring your passport.

[Xiwang]

In my experience, paying three months rent at a time seems fairly standard.

I've put money into someone else's account without paying a fee. However, Bank of China did charge a friend of mine a fee for a deposit to an account in Beijing. The fact that the deposit was made at a BoC branch in Tibet may have been a factor.

[gougou]

The fact that the deposit was made at a BoC branch in Tibet may have been a factor.

Yeah, for the deposit to Zhejiang I also paid a fee of 1% or 2%.

[roddy]

Three months is normal, six months isn't completely unknown. A year is perhaps normal if you're renting a courtyard in Changping for 600Y a month.

Ideally get your money as close to its destination as possible by using a branch of the same bank. That way they can check the account name and number matches up for you, and the money will get there right away (assuming it's the same province). There might be a fee if the landlord's account isn't in Beijing.

My only queries would be who are you signing the lease with, the agency or the landlord? I'd say either is ok, but I'd want to be paying whoever is on the lease I think.

[Brian US]

My only queries would be who are you signing the lease with, the agency or the landlord? I'd say either is ok, but I'd want to be paying whoever is on the lease I think.

I don't have my lease in front of me, but I'm pretty sure it's on the agency's letterhead. Yet, I was told I need to be paying my landlord directly. The agent said it shouldn't be a problem putting money into his account and to go to him with any problems. This may also be because I haven't paid the agency fee yet, so I'll see about his services after that...