In the last article, we discussed
what you should bear in mind when you sign the housing lease, I mentioned that a large number of
lane houses or
apartments available in the market are belongs to the secondary landlords. Especially those remodeled in the French concession, Jingan and Xintiandi area. The number can be as high as to 90 percent.
So is it better to have the original landlord or the secondary landlord?
First of all: no matter it’s the original landlord or the secondary landlord, we must ensure that the person has the legal rights to rent the property. For a secondary landlord, he or she must have the letter of attorney signed by the original landlord.
Secondly: Usually the property from a secondary landlord is a bit more expensive than the one from the original landlord. Those sublease rent the place from the owner, then they invest quite amount of money to renovate the place. The lease is usually more than 6 years, the longer, and the better for them. Their goals are to rent the place for a higher price so that they can make the difference out of it. In order to make it happen, they will do a complete renovation to meet the requirements of the potential tenants. In that case, in terms of decoration style, furniture, facilities, a remodeled apartment from the secondly landlords is much better than from the original one..A home with oven, washer-dryer is just a basic, a lot of places are equipped with floor-heating or wall- radiator which are not common for an average apartment. On the other hand, a place owened by the original landlord can be very very Chinese, unless you are willing to renovate it by you own, it is not a good option I say.
Thirdly: the after-sales service. The original landlords are usually very busy, they don’t have much time to handle the after service or handle it promptly which can leave quite a lot of inconvenience to the tenants cause the tenants are also busy and don’t speak the local language. Sometimes the owners are just willing to lower the rent a bit if the tenants can take care of the repairs by themselves. For a secondary landlord, on the other hand, they are quick responsive to any fixing requests from the tenants. They have their own workers standby. They are very professional.
I believe after you read this article, you will have a clear understanding of the Shanghai landlords and what to expect from them. But you will also need a great agent to help you communicate between you guys.
For more inquiry or help, we can be reached by 13046607569 or pay a visit to our website at www.lanehouseshanghai.com
