Okay, I'm frustrated.

Like many folk I have to provide rental fapio to my work in order to receive my tax-free housing allowance. In the past I've gotten them from my local real-estate place - this month (I need 6 months' worth) they say they can't get it.

I went to several other real-estate places and they either flatly refused or want 7% of the fapio's value, when in the past 5% seemed standard. Anyone else having this problem? Have the central-Shanghai offices decided to collude to bleed more money from the foreigners?

As it is it's a pretty stupid system, but it seems to have gotten more difficult just recently. I mean, it's free money for them, right? They buy the fapio for 3%, sell it for 5%. Greedy little monsters.

Where do they buy the fapiaos for 3% of the price? I thought the standard rental tax is 5%.