[Shameless]

Hi All,

I finally managed to secure a decent job in Hong Kong last month after nearly a year of trying so really pleased and looking forward to it. I will be coming over from London in about 6 weeks to start (once the visa goes through - fingers crossed ). But now of course i've got a million things to take care of as i'm sure many of you can relate to.

My question is regarding deposits when moving into serviced apartments. I know that when you are renting/leasing a place of your own the norm in HK is to pay one months rent up front and a further 2 months rent as a deposit. Is this the same for serviced apartments too or is there no deposit as such?

I'm going to be on about 50k per month once i've started, so should be ok, but things are going to be pretty tight initially until i've got a few months income under my belt so I need to keep outgoings down to a minimum for the first month or two and would rather avoid paying out deposits if at all possible.

Any thoughts would be hugely appreciated and i'll be happy to crash a few beers once in town, cheers.

[KnowItAll]

Some of the apartments need a month long deposit upfront.

If your company is flexible, they can loan you the deposit amount .. no harm asking.

[lukbealaldy]

When I was researching service apts most of them asked for one month deposit and an electricity bill deposit. Some asked for two months but not as common.

[nicb]

Currently staying at the Bauhinia serviced apartments. 1br $18000 p/m no deposit required, they just asked for cc imprint. Apartments are comfortable and very close to Shuen Wan MTR.

www.apartments.com.hk

Nic

[Andrew W Scott]

Deposit (equal to one month's rent) returned 10 days after moving out. Presumably it gives them time to find out anything bad you did to the apartment that isn't immediately obvious, before returning your deposit.

No electricity or other deposits. Local phone calls (land lines and mobile/cell phones) and broadband intenet access included in the rent.

Rent monthly in advance as per the norm.

[HKNewBi]

Originally Posted by nicb

Currently staying at the Bauhinia serviced apartments. 1br $18000 p/m no deposit required, they just asked for cc imprint. Apartments are comfortable and very close to Shuen Wan MTR.

www.apartments.com.hk

Nic

How funny! I used to have a flat in this block before we all got kicked out and it reappeared after a major refurbishment as the Bauhinia serviced apartments.

Looks like they did a good job doing it up. It used to be called the Korea Centre and was frankly a bit of a dump.

Enjoyed staying there though, Sheung Wan is good fun.