I have been renting an apartment in Shanghai and the oven in the room broke (I then threw it out). My deposit money is already not going to be given back from something before. I was told that I can tell the landlord that since he is not giving the deposit money back, that he already has compensation for the broken oven. Is this correct?

Lots of luck!

The landlord will probably not accept non-payment for whatever you broke. The question, though, is how he can make you pay for it if you have no deposit to refund.

If I refuse to pay for it then can he charge me or will the deposit take care of that?

You already said he won't give you back the deposit because of a previous issue so why would you think the deposit will take care of the broken item?

If you refuse to pay I guess he can take you to court. It depends on whether he thinks it is worth it or not.

if my tenant already burned thru his deposit for a previous issue and then broke and tossed out my property (oven or whatever) I would require payment of some sort for that. I mean how do I know it actually broke and the tenant didnt just sell it to some salvage guy and make some money on the deal?

^ Exactly. It was quite moronic to just throw the broken item away.

The million dollar question is, though, how can you force the tenant to pay when you have no security deposit?

Ok you did not get where I was going so let me rephrase this and be a bit clearer with where I am going.

If the landlord is a dick and refuses to give back the deposit and has already broken the contract (proven true by the real estate place), then if the stove *accidentally* breaks (its value is slighly less than the deposit value) and I was to move the *broken stove* to another house, will he be able to charge me? I was told that this is perfectly legal.

and less of a pain than having to hire a lawyer.

How does stealing his property go unmentioned and treated as seperate than the damage deposit dispute?

If the landlord is indeed a d__, why would'nt he haul you to court for theft?

Yu is a nice guy....and that is what he would do.
(Yu...I will deny I called you a nice guy to all eterniity next time see you....)

Eagle123 wrote:Ok you did not get where I was going so let me rephrase this and be a bit clearer with where I am going.

If the landlord is a dick and refuses to give back the deposit and has already broken the contract (proven true by the real estate place), then if the stove *accidentally* breaks (its value is slighly less than the deposit value) and I was to move the *broken stove* to another house, will he be able to charge me? I was told that this is perfectly legal.

Why -- exactly -- would the landlord not give you back the deposit? Under what pretext other than the broken stove?

The landlord in question has stated to the real estate agency and myself that he would not return the deposit money with no given reason other than the fact that he is a cheating sob. He also broke the contract by failing to meet another item on the contract. I am not going to take any stove. There never was a stove here so forget about that. I have not violated the contract so I am not at fault.

All of the lawyers that I contacted said that it is a simple matter and not worth going to court for although I would have a 100% chance of winning. They all suggested that I should take something from the house equal to the value of the deposit.

Of course I will not follow this advice until I can prove it is legal.

My basis of writing this post is that I just find it very interesting that they would suggest this. I am wondering if this is infact legal or just an unspoken Chinese custom. Since I am not Chinese I will of course not attempt this.

Eagle123 wrote:The landlord in question has stated to the real estate agency and myself that he would not return the deposit money with no given reason other than the fact that he is a cheating sob. He also broke the contract by failing to meet another item on the contract. I am not going to take any stove. There never was a stove here so forget about that. I have not violated the contract so I am not at fault.

All of the lawyers that I contacted said that it is a simple matter and not worth going to court for although I would have a 100% chance of winning. They all suggested that I should take something from the house equal to the value of the deposit.

Of course I will not follow this advice until I can prove it is legal.

My basis of writing this post is that I just find it very interesting that they would suggest this. I am wondering if this is infact legal or just an unspoken Chinese custom. Since I am not Chinese I will of course not attempt this.

Ok, now I understand.

I have heard that there are sob landlords though I have never met any. Were you my tenant, I would give you back the security deposit without hassle assuming there was no legitimate reason to retain it.

I also believe you could go after the landlord legally to get your deposit returned, but unless you are talking about a lot of money, it is likely not worth the time and hassle to do so. That does not mean I would let the matter dissipate into the air, though.

I am not sure how the are using the word "legal" when giving you advice about taking something from the landlord equal in value to the deposit he is illegally retaining. In the criminal sense, I do not think you are committing any crime by taking property equal to the value of your deposit. You are merely availing yourself to an offset against money he legally owes you. The police are probably not going to be interested.

Now, does the civil code specifically allow you to offset your debt in this manner? I am not sure, but I would guess not. Does the law specifically say that you cannot? Ditto.

My bet is that you would be safe in offsetting against something of equal or lesser value than what the landlord owes you.

Another option, if you hadn't paid your rent in advance for the term of the contract, is to not pay the landlord the last month or two for rent.