Renting Apartments - Utilities

[ChouDoufu]

For anyone who will be renting apartments in China, be sure you pay attention to Utility bills (phone, water, gas, electricity). These don't come as regularly as they come in the states and if you don't keep your receipts and stuff ytou can end up in at a loss when it comes time to dealing with your Lanlord.

When you rent the apartment make sure to record your gas, water, electricity level, etc... when you leave the place and there is water/gas that's already been paid for your lanlord will pay you back for them.. I'm in a situation where i'm paying for water i didn't use because that water meter wasn't on the contract. im pissed... but it's my fault. don't repeat my mistake..

[roddy]

Last time I was handing back an apartment, the landlord spent about 45 minutes working out how much I should pay, before giving up and asking me to work it out. It worked out about even, as I owed them for water and gas, but there was still money in the (pre-paid) electricity meter.

If I remember correctly, the standard contracts you can download from 吾屋.com include a section for recording the utilities on.

When you are leaving, I think you can get the meter readers out to check and settle up - probably easier just to work it out with the landlord though.

Roddy