[egk7]

Hi,

I just moved to HK and found a flat I want to rent, and was hoping someone could help with some questions I had.

The landlord is a small HK company. One of the directors of the landlord is a BVI company, and the person who will actually sign the lease for the landlord is a director of the BVI company. I have received a copy of the landlord's HK business registration, and its board resolution authorizing the BVI company to sign the lease. I have also received the BVI company's list of directors.

I checked out the HK company registry website and confirmed that the landlord is a registered company in HK. I also obtained the results of a land search which confirmed that the HK company is the registered owner of the property to be leased. The BVI company's register of directors I received purports that the person who will sign the lease is a director of the BVI company, but I have not been able to independently verify whether the BVI company actually exists (seems there is no online search service available to the public at large for free).

Overall, I am finding this whole process to be very complicated (and somewhat less than transparent), and it bothers me that I cannot completely verify whether the person who is signing the lease actually has the authority to bind the landlord. To ease my mind somewhat, I have asked for a copy of the signer's passport or HKID, but it seems she is only willing to show it to me at the signing instead of providing a copy. (I'm not sure how this works, but since they requested and I provided a copy of my passport, I thought my request was reasonable).

Has anyone else encountered a similar situation when trying to rent a flat in HK? Any suggestions on what I should do to make sure everything is on the up-and-up?

Many thanks for your help!

egk7

[PDLM]

Are you using an agent? If so then you need to get them involved in this process. That's part of what they do.

[Alby]

Kudos to you for doing so much legwork ...

however, I will ask PDLM's question - are you using an agent?

If you are then what are they doing for you?

All the invested time and energy you have put into this process I am curious to know if you'll be paying the agent fee too - as it seems like you are doing all the work and not the agent.

or are you doing all this legwork to ensure that the agent is in fact doing s/he job and overall just being a conscientious consumer.

[egk7]

Hi PDLM and Alby:

My agent is basically useless, and it's hard to tell if she's working for me or for the landlord, so I've been reconfirming everything on my own to make sure.

By the way, do you guys have a sample HK lease agreement or know where I might be able to find one? The draft the landlord sent me seems very one sided in favor of the landlord, so I just want to know what the standard practice is. For example, the lease period is for 2 years but either side can terminate upon 2 months' prior written notice after the first 12 months (basically, 14 month fixed term). My understanding, however, is that usually only the tenant is given the right to terminate after the first 12 months, so if the tenant chooses he/she can stay the full duration of the 2 years and the landlord cannot terminate the lease earlier without cause. Could you please kindly give me your thoughts on this?

Many thanks.

egk7

[PDLM]

Your understanding of the standard tenancy agreement is correct - there's no point in having a 2 year term if either side can terminate after 14 months.

I can't immediately find a "standard" agreement online - legally the tenancy agreement can say anything you agree - but this page and this page and the links from them may be helpful.

[freeier]

the contracts signed these days are 1y+1y. both tenant and landlord can have the option to terminate giving 2 months notice.

you can ask for a uni-directional option but that depends on how valuable you are as a tenant, i.e. anyone else wanting to accept the 1+1 option, are you paying market rate or higher than market rate, etc.

alternatively you can just sign for a 2 years contract with no termination option.

i do not see why you term that a one sided contract. i think law protects the tenant more than the landlord, and the landlord are the one with asset at risk. if you find the landlord not satisfactory, or for that matter of fact the agent not up to par with what you want, just voice your complain to the agency or terminate the agreement and go for another one. that's the good thing about capitalistic market

[booding]

I'm just about to put down a deposit to lease an apartment, and have not done nearly as much due diligence as Egk has...

Am also using a small real estate agency and am getting a bit worried... Are real estate agencies known to be unreliable and sketchy in HK? Has anyone heard of people getting scammed by an agent? If so--- any examples??

Thanks...

[KnowItAll]

booding : what are you specifically worried about?

In general, you should be more worried about the landlords than the agents (who are usually just too lazy to be creating original scams...).

Most larger agencies also have branches all over the place .. so do keep in mind that you're not always restricted to the hole in the wall agency.

[KnowItAll]

egk7 : I have in the past asked for the person signing the lease to provide me with an ID card copy and they've complied.

Standard leases can be found at most stationary shops in Hong Kong. Just ask.

One thing that seems odd is .... the agent and you seem to have tangentially opposite views on how important the transaction is.

[shilo507]

Originally Posted by KnowItAll

booding :

In general, you should be more worried about the landlords than the agents.

Exactly right. Landlord and Tenant Law in HK is heavily weighted in favour of the landlord. The tenant is in a far weaker position.

For example, the property I rent has just been repossessed by the bank. I came home one day to find a notice from the lender stuck to the door giving me 28 days to leave. I have discovered that this was due to non-payment of the mortgage by the landlord despite rent being paid by me every month in full and on time. The landlord was 6 months behind with payments.

In the UK the tenmnt would be vigorously protected until the expiry of the lease (in my case until November 2008) and is effectively a 'sitting tenant'. In the UK this means that provided the tenant is up to date with the rent and continues to pay the rent (to the lender) then no Court will force the tenant to leave until the expiry of the lease.

There is no such provision in HK law. It is strange that HK Law normally shadows UK law very closely but in Landlord and Tenant law in HK there is a yawning gap.

Anyway, the upshot of my case is that I have also lost 2 months deposit as the landlord is insolvent.