apartment question

[SOLO90]

Hello,

 

I have a question regarding electricity for my apartment. I'm allotted 100 kilowatts of electricity for 125 RMB. When my electric runs out, my landlord has to come and fill it up by putting a card into the unit outside my apartment. I physically have to pay him 125 every time he comes to refill it. It seems like 100 kilowatts isn't a lot because I've refilled 3 times since moving in. I was informed that each building is different, but this seems extremely odd. Does anyone know if this sounds right? 

[889]

It's hard to know whether 300 kilowatts is a lot for a period without knowing the period.

 

The other factor is what you're using, dual A/C in particular. Size of refrigerator and setting also counts.

 

Might also make a difference where you are.

[DavyJonesLocker]

Why don't you register , get the card and do it yourself?.

Air heaters and air con, electric cooked will drain electricity fast My bill during this summer was 900RMB (3 months July to Sept). For the year is around 1600 RMB

My aircon is old and inefficient.

Your rate sounds extensive. My rate is 0.49 to 0.79per KWH. It jumps up the more you use. 

 

 

[roddy]

Yeah, I'd say he's adding something on to the electricity cost - either sneakily under the guise of doing you a favour by going to buy the electricity credit for you, or it's written into your lease. At the very least though he should be able to just put several hundred kWh on at once. 

 

Although from your other post, you're still applying for your residence permit, which means you've only been in China for a few weeks at most. 375Y in that period sounds like something's wrong to me. 

[imron]

5 hours ago, SOLO90 said:

Does anyone know if this sounds right? 

 

Depends on what your electricity usage is like and what sort of appliances you are running.  Are you constantly running any appliance that is particularly electricity hungry?

[DavyJonesLocker]

You can check the usage yourself by looking at the meter if you have access to it, a lot of the time these cabinets are left open. 

[ChTTay]

Yeah, if it’s a fairly short period it sounds way too much. I usually pay about 200rmb  at once and it lasts 4 weeks on average. 

 

Once you’ve topped up electricity physically the first time, you can get your number off the receipt and use Alipay to top up thereafter. It’s way easier as you don’t need to leave your apartment. 

 

If the landlord  doesn’t want to give you the electricity card (fear of less etc) then just get the number off them and do it yourself on Alipay. I usually don’t have to use the card again if I top up using Alipay. To be safe, too up before the power runs out completely. I think when that happens I’ve had to put the card back in and flip a switch. 

[SOLO90]

How should I go about registering for my own electricity card?  I believe its written into my lease. I run my aircon because I'm in a single room and the insulation for my window is pretty bad. 

[imron]

1 hour ago, SOLO90 said:

I run my aircon

For how many hours each day?

 

If you are running it for significant periods of time then that will account for using so much electricity.

 

For example, when I lived in Beijing, I'd use about one or two 'units' of electricity per day (unit being the number showing on the electricity meter).  If I ran the air-con overnight it would use 10 units of electricity.  I decided to learn to live with the heat and it wasn't so bad (and when it was so bad I could make an exception).  In the winter I would wear more clothing inside.

 

If you don't want to do that (I many people wouldn't), look to see if your aircon unit has things like a sleep timer so that if you're going to sleep you can set it to turn off an hour after you'd normally fall asleep.  Or turn it off just before you go to bed and then set the timer to start again just before you wake up.  Likewise, don't leave it on when you are going out of the apartment to have a nice air conditioned room when you return - use the timer for that.

[ChTTay]

As far as i’m aware can’t register for your own card. The landlord has your card. It’s likely only they could get another one if that one was lost or whatever.

 

You just need to speak to the Landlord and say that you’d prefer to top up yourself. If they don’t want to give you the card, set up Alipay and do it that way. You’ll need the number I mentioned above though. 

[Shelley]

If you have a leaky/draughty,  badly insulated window, buy some thick builders plastic and a roll of duck tape and put the plastic over the window with the duck tape. It will either keep the heat/cold in or the heat/cold out. Should cut down on the bills.

 

We had one draughty window which we did this to every winter and you could see the plastic puff out as the seal was made. Home made double glazing.

[SOLO90]

I was thinking about doing that. Where would I go about buying builders plastic? I live in a tier 2 city and English isn't  very common.My landlord seems pretty shady as well.  I still haven't fully moved into my apartment and haven't been here very long and I'm already having issues with my landlord. For instance, the fact that the electric costs so much is the first problem. The second problem is my landlord apparently accesses my apartment when I'm at work. He also knows when I'm coming back from work because he's usually waiting for me. Anyway,  Last night I dropped something on my mattress and it left an oily stain. My landlord somehow knew it happened and was adamant about expressing his issue with it to me. Is this normal for China? Should I just embrace the fact that I don't have privacy?

 

[Shelley]

I don't know where you would buy it, I am not in China. Lets hope someone who does know will pop in with the answer

 

I would move, privacy is real important to me, I could put up with all the other stuff, but I need to know my door is locked and stays locked till I get back.

[ChTTay]

You can buy 3M window kits expressly for this purpose. Google it first for the exact name then taobao. Taobao has everything.

 

if your Landlord knew about it then it was likely your room mate(s) or he/she has cameras.

 

Sounds to me like you should just find a new place tbh. 

[Zbigniew]

3 hours ago, SOLO90 said:

The second problem is my landlord apparently accesses my apartment when I'm at work. He also knows when I'm coming back from work because he's usually waiting for me. Anyway,  Last night I dropped something on my mattress and it left an oily stain. My landlord somehow knew it happened and was adamant about expressing his issue with it to me. Is this normal for China? Should I just embrace the fact that I don't have privacy?

You seem unsure whether he has in fact entered the property. You could do with finding out for sure. What does your tenancy agreement (presumably you have one, and you signed it) say about the landlord accessing the property? If this was the UK, any landlord who entered a tenant's property without prior notice would be risking getting in a spot of legal bother.

 

1 hour ago, ChTTay said:

if your Landlord knew about it then it was likely your room mate(s) or he/she has cameras.

Come again? You're saying the landlord may have installed concealed cameras in the bedroom?

[ChTTay]

10 minutes ago, Zbigniew said:

If this was the UK, any landlord who entered a tenant's property without prior notice would be risking getting in a spot of legal bother.

 

It isn’t the UK. It sounds like the OP might be renting a room but can’t be sure. Most people here, in Beijing,  change the locks if they rent the whole apartment as standard. Once you’ve changed them you don’t need to give anyone like the Landlord or agent the key. The main thinking behind this is actually that you don’t want previous tenants being able to enter. Conveniently it also means a landlord can’t just let themselves in. 

 

If youre in an apartment that just rents rooms then it’s a different story as tenants are usually fairly short term. 

 

As for the camera thing, if the OP lives alone and is sure the Landlord didn’t come into his apartment AND didn’t tell anyone his spilt something in his bedroom. What’s your explanation? I’m not saying they installed camera’s but if the above are all true then what else? More likely OP mentioned it to someone else living there or it’s massively obvious and the landlord just goes in whenever he likes and looks around. 

 

Regardless, still sounds like you should get a new place. 

[Zbigniew]

50 minutes ago, ChTTay said:

Most people here, in Beijing,  change the locks if they rent the whole apartment as standard. Once you’ve changed them you don’t need to give anyone like the Landlord or agent the key. The main thinking behind this is actually that you don’t want previous tenants being able to enter. Conveniently it also means a landlord can’t just let themselves in. 

Yes, a perversely back-to-front way of doing things that disadvantages both tenant and landlord. It's a fairly clear sign that Chinese legislation covering the landlord-tenant relationship doesn't count for much. I can see I've been lucky in never having had to rent when I've been in China.

 

 

[ChTTay]

Strange response.

 

I think we're all lucky. 

[Lu]

If you can reasonably get a different place to live, that sounds like a good idea. Whether your landlord is actually cheating you and/or going into your place or not, the fact that you already don't trust him, before you're even fully living there, is not a good start of your stay.

[SOLO90]

 thanks for the info everyone.