[VegemiteKid]

What is the 'normal' way to negotiate apartment rental when an agent is involved? Who do they work for anyway? The renter or the owner? I am finding our agent somewhat elusive and just want to get the property and the goddamn keys without paying too much. Is 10% off the advertised rate a fair figure to end on? Thks in advance for the local advice.

[Traffic]

For the last of your questions: it depends. Real estate in HK is very conservative. Even I, negotiator for life, was happy to get 20% off my current place to hang my hat. Usually they calculate 3-7% of negotiation space. After this it's really hard to get extra discount.

Main benefits you can push on during negotiation:
1. You are not chinese (if)
2. Your company is ready to pay the rent (in ideal case they should sign the contract with landlord, not you)
3. You can make landlord confident that after signing up with you he can forget about the appartment/house for at least 2-3 years and enjoy collecting rental.
4. Usual as everywhere (no parties/hard job/no pets/stable big employer/your ideal age of around 40)

If you can deliver at least 1 of points 1-3 and some of p.4 that - you have a good chance to negotiate.

[PettsWood]

The agent is supposed to work for both because he/she gets the commissions from both sides. In reality, they would side to the tenants because they are in a quick deal. It is far better to get a deal than to get a high-rent deal because the extra time is just not worth the extra money. In this sense, they you can tell the agent FIRMLY (non negotiable kind of bottomline) the bottomline and he/she will work on that figure for you. The longer he/she spend on it, the more eager he/she wants to close the deal or he/she would waste the time already spent. 10% off the advertised figure is a good start, give or take another 5% depending on your bargining power (as suggested by traffic), the landlord's experience of non-Chinese tenants etc and the market (aparently there are fewer flats to let now because everyone want to sell to capitalise the rising property market - not sure if it is true).

All the best for your hunting.

[PettsWood]

Don't forget to have the lease properly done with break clause after the first year, landlord's responsibility on fixing all furniture/fixings left behind etc.