Our 1 year lease is about to end and I am interested in extending it.
The natural thing is to talk to the estate agent but I cannot reach her. Until now I have tried to reach her for another reason but would talk about this too.

Perhaps she does not work for the agency anymore? I have not asked the agency as I am bothered with the fact that our apartment is for lease at their home page even though there is more than 2 months left to go.

First I thought I had a good stand in negotiating ourselves favorable contract extension but now I am not sure if I should do it over this agent at all but ask someone I trust to talk directly to the owner.
Or what is the agencys motivation to extend the lease? How much do they get? This is obviously off from my negotiation power but additionally, our agents service has not been that good so I would much rather allocate it to, for example to reputable agent here for whom this would be an easy deal.

Comments appreciated.

Hi Kloppi. A quick answer to your question would be to engage another agent that you know and trust who would your interests at heart. I know they are in short supply but there are some around........I know a few myself.

Many agents move around to different agencies. I think the average time they stay is around 6 months. We just recently did a big mail out to agencies and around 50% of the addresses had closed down which means they had left the company. Your agent may not even be in the business anymore.

Usually landlords pay 2 weeks commission for a renewal. I do need to inform you there has been abt a 10% increase in rentals this year........"it's only just begun" as the lyrics go. You may get a good deal though if the landlord can see the benefit of having a long term stable tenant. You only get a good outcome with a good agent discussing the benefits of renewing with you. It may sound easy but it is not because many of these landlords are pretty hard to deal with in my opionion.

Anyway, let us know if you need some help.

Adrienne Farrelly
Shanghai Properties "Expat agents speak your language"
http://www.shanghaiprops.com

Good question OP.

I've always maintained that this is a direct conflict of interest situation in a great many cases in Shanghai. They will always prοtest otherwise but in my opinion the agent is working for you landlord, not you. Especially in the case of a listing company.

Look the whole business of estate agents and r/e companies in Shanghai (and other places too) is to convince landlords to give them their business by persuading them that dealing with rich foreigners is just too difficult. In the realm of expat rentals, the landlord is footing the bill, not the renter. Your situation depends on how hard the landlord is pushing for a rent increase. Even if you agree to a big rent hike, there might be someone out there who is willing to pay more. If you are the rental agency then why not have some leverage by having another big-wallet out there as another viable client. It solidifies the agency's position brings in more money and proves to the landlord that the agent is doing their job.

We were in a situation where our agent was actively trying to recruit other renters behind our back. We just went straight to the landlord, asked for a renewal on the same terms based on our good tennancy and luckily our present landlord isn't a greedy sod. Our ll is still using the same agency for her business but we just deal with her directly.

My motivation would be to avoid the agent all together when extending. Why pay the agent fee a second time. They found you the place the first year and you paid them for that. Done deal .

Absolutely. I try not to even deal with the agents at all after the initial signing. Get the landlord used to dealing with you directly.
In the age of online-living there is really no excuse to be using agents at all. I look forward to the day when we can conduct these transactions via FB, Craigslist or similar in a civilized fashion without the use of costly intermediaries.

Agents make more money if rent goes up or even more if they can find someone new to pay more than you - so I prefer dealing direct with the landlord for renewals. We've been doing it this way for a couple years as we have a good relationship despite language issues (landlord has a strong Shanghainese accent). But I'd only go this route if you've got a decent relationship with your landlord (like if you've had to get stuff fixed and they've taken care of it without a fight).

Find apartments through friends, referrals, boards etc... I've had good luck with Smartshanghai in the past for short term and flat-sharing. Best thing I've found is to find a place you like and talk to the building management or someone you know in the building. Hell I've even had referrals from BaoAn that have turned out to be pretty good. You're much more likely to find a place at a local price this way instead of getting the Laowai gouge-job.

I suggest you make your interest known to your landlord and try to extend it directly. Asking an agent would be asking to pay more. If I were you, dont let your agent know. My previous landlord asked to pay agent fees again and was puzzled since it was an extension.

^^What he/she said.

my new place had no agent, no deposit, no contract and is a lot nicer than any of those short term places like jade garden and other serviced places under 9000 a month. only catch is i have to pay 6000 and gave my word i would stay 6 months.

it just takes a few days of looking to get around the 2 months deposit, agent fee, one months rent, and 12 month contract stuff.

Thank you all very much for the very informative replies!!

Now it is rather clear for me that I will not ask this agency to help with the extension. I will first talk to some people at work and if that is no good, ask Adrienne her schedule. Thanks again

BTW, have the rents really gone up? Would be good to know in order to know the terms of extension to propose.

Kloppi wrote:Thank you all very much for the very informative replies!!

Now it is rather clear for me that I will not ask this agency to help with the extension. I will first talk to some people at work and if that is no good, ask Adrienne her schedule. Thanks again

BTW, have the rents really gone up? Would be good to know in order to know the terms of extension to propose.

Hi Kloppi. Hope all goes well for you.

In answer to your question about rental rate rise, here are some articles relating to the rises.

China: Property tax rule pushing up cost of renting
http://www.Asian1.com

SHANGHAI - The government's latest property rules are providing extra impetus for rent increases in many Chinese cities, according to a survey conducted by China Youth Daily.
In the survey, 81.6 per cent of the 4,060 respondents interviewed said they "are suffering from the increase in rents". Among them, 34.8 per cent said their quality of life has been "greatly affected by the increase".
The respondents came from 31 different cities across the country, and nearly 70 per cent of them were born in the 1980s.
And the efforts are not confined to Shanghai. Chongqing municipality has also introduced a property tax.
"House rent has increased by 20 per cent since mid-2010, and has climbed to a historic high level," said Li Yongzhe, a real estate agent of Gucheng Agency in Shanghai.
"The government's tightening policy has scared away many potential buyers," said Li. "Instead of rushing to buy homes, many have chosen to rent."
That trend, he and other property agents said, has greatly driven up the demand for rental properties in Shanghai.
Shu Wei, a 24-year-old computer engineer from Central China's Hunan province who is now working in Shanghai, is thinking about moving to a remoter place in the city because he can't afford the rising cost of rent, even though he is sharing a two-bedroom apartment with two other people.
"I wouldn't even think of buying a house in Shanghai now," Shu said. "But housing issues have still become a burden for me."
Xue Jianxiong, an analyst with the China Real Estate Information Corporation, said landlords in recent years have charged rents that have been too low to cover the cost of investing in rental properties. Landlords are now trying to make up for those losses, as well as trying to ensure that their incomes keep pace with the rising cost of living.
"In the past several years, property prices have not been the only thing that has jumped; commodity prices have undergone a huge increase as well," he said. "Besides, the introduction of the property tax is also adding to the cost of property investment, and landlords are very likely to transfer all of the new costs to tenants."
He Yongfang, a landlord in Shanghai, agreed with Xue's opinion. She said that, while recently signing a contract with a tenant, she raised the rent she charges by 10 per cent.
"The price of everything is inflating," said the 53-year-old housewife. "So it's reasonable that I increase my income a little bit."

Rental Prices Jump as Demand Grows
http://www.chinapost.cn
Greater demand pushes rent prices higher in the first-tier cities of China after the Spring Festival, the Nanfang Daily reports.
Rent for apartments, stores and office buildings in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou all jumped by around 10 percent in mid-February, the report says.
People's inflation expectations and increasing numbers of migrant workers may have contributed to the recent rise in rental prices.
Besides, some would-be property buyers chose to be tenants due to the unstable real estate market in the country, which also drives up the rental market.
In Guangzhou, the leasing business was four-fold more than that of house purchases recently, according to local real estate agencies quoted in the report.
Meanwhile, the growth of the rental market in Shanghai has drawn much attention as leasing deals climb from 40 percent before festival to 70 percent of the total real estate business.
"Leasing in Shanghai usually accounts for 70 percent of the business during a property market downturn, and 40 percent when the market is hot," said Luo Yanshen, a local market analyst.
The rental market will continue to be active as demand rises in the following three to four months, he added.

Adrienne Farrelly
Shanghai Properties "Expat agents speak your language"
http://www.shanghaiprops.com