I hope to get advice for our situatiion. We'd like info from this forum at least to give us some idea of what to expect and what is reasonable.

Tentative plan:
Oct 27: Checkout (including walkthrough) of apartment
Oct 30: Last day of our 2-yr temporary assignment in Shanghai
Oct 30: We fly back to our home country

1. When do we expect to get our deposit back (2-month's worth of rent)?

2. Should we expect cash or expect the deposit to be refunded directly to our bank account? When we gave the landlord the deposit, we had to go to our bank and transfer the money to some account (not sure if it is the landlord's account or the property management's account).

3. The deposit money was on loan to us from our employer. So we have to give it back to the employer. If the landlord refunds it to us via to account near or long past our departure date, transfer the money to our employer might be a problem. Any suggestions?

4. Is it safe to keep our bank account open still after we have left China especially we don't have a China address? How would the bank handle accounts with foreign home address?

5. Is it possible to close our Shanghai bank account from our home country?

Thank you for your help!

Hi there
My situation may be different than other people so I'll just hope for your sake that you have a decent landlord.
My first landlord kept our deposit for 2 years. We had to fight for it. He made claims that we left the house in a disgusting state, that there was damage to most of the house and flat out refused to give it back to us.
What we did with the second house is not pay one month and let the other month go towards paying any outstanding bills.
Normally they transfer the money straight into the account that it came from.
Good luck. As I said, my experience was different. Hopefully you'll get some positive advice on here.

Based on my previous experience, the landlord will come on the day of the "checkout", check the house status and then refunds you back the deposit in cash (depending on how much is it because in case, deposit was one month worth of rent and not two).
Of course, a portion will be removed from that deposit for paying for utility bills arriving that month in your case (unless you or landlord already done that) and may be a cleaning fee.
For closing bank accounts; I think others will be able to answer it for you.
All the best and safe trip to home

Ideally, you would communicate that your company will be contacting the landlord for a direct transfer back. This will let the landlord know that even after your departure, a COMPANY will be sending someone out to settle the accounts. Even if thats not entirely true, at least it give you leverage in case the landlord ws planning on screwing with the deposits and or not refunding parts/all of it.

That said, it usually goes like:
1) day of check out, both you and landlord inspect property and agree on condition IN WRITING (so have a translator of your own as while most real estate agents do a great job, if you are leaving, it is good to understand that some agencies several Chinese lady brokers come to mind, have a vested interest to take care of the landlord***)
2) Agree on any settlements, damages, etc.
3) A portion of the deposit can be held until the last month's bill is received so you will need to work that out with them as well, perhaps showing your regular usage and leaving more than that share.

As for keeping account open, no problem as its not like they send out notifications / statements anyhow for basic passbook accounts. Have them deposit last bit into that account if necessary and worst case you pull the cash out with an ATM and take the hit on fees.

And yes, have a safe trip home!

***Edited per Adrienne's comment- I would trust Adrienne at Shanghai properties with my property in a heartbeat!

Usually cash back less outstanding utilities. If you are a clean user and has been a good tenant, the landlord usually doesn't pull a fuss. When I moved out of my rented apartment into my own apartment years ago, I even went the extra mile by helping my landlord find a tenant. Obviously she gave me back my deposit happily.

As per above, money usually returned on the date of handing back the keys. You could try asking for the deposit to go towards the last month's rent, however a landlord/lady would have to be a total beginner to accept this.

my landlord not only gave us our whole deposit back, she allowed my ayi to have the key for an extra day to pick up stuff we left for her and to clean up. It was unusual to me because they had their own Ayi's but were so kind to us. We told the agent which probably helped the landlord rent the place.

My landlord gave back the deposit in cash on the day of checkout minus some estimate for the utillities based on the meter readings which we did on the day.

yu888 wrote:1) day of check out, both you and landlord inspect property and agree on condition IN WRITING (so have a translator YOu trust, NOT a real estate agent if at all possible as agents have a vested interest to take care of the landlord)

yu888, could we please re-phrase this comment to SOME real estate agents. We have worked our butts off in some difficult cases as part of afterservice to ensure deposits are paid back. All other advice is spot on, as usual.

Suggest that discussions are done well in advance and utility companies or management called to do a final bill or meter reading.

The telephone bills can't be paid up to that date so are often the only sticky item. Suggest you show landlord the bills for past 6 months, average it out and deduct some monies for this.

It would be good if the monies can be returned directly to your company so they can follow up on it.

You will need to be here to close your bank account so I would not be relying on any bank transfers with deposits.

Good luck with it all and let us know how you go.

Cheers,

Adrienne

Thanks you all for responding! Lots of good info! We sure will let you know how it goes. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

Thanks again!

Last two apartments I got the deposits back during the walk through. In both cases the landlords assistant noted numbers for utilities, called the utility companies to get per unit prices and last numbers from previous bill, and settled on an amout to take off the bills right then and there. That took an extra 20 minutes or so and was smooth. I wouldn't expect to be able to transfer money out of China from outside China....good luck!

1. When you give up the keys and leave when the lease has been expired and nothing has been damaged or contradicts the contract/lease, typically they'll use the deposit equivalent to a US "security deposit", holding it and using some if not all for repairs/damages caused by tenant(s).

2. Typically its cash when you meet w/ landlord on site to give up keys and shake hands

3. Get cash from landlord, give cash to employer. Easiest way. Make sure u either get a receipt from landlord or employer with signature saying deposit has been released.

4. 99% of the time you need to be at a local BoC branch to do anything regarding your account. You don't need to be there when you deposit money into your account, any fool can walk in and deposit 10million RMB into your account providing he has your account number.

5. No not unless your home country is China. You need to fill out an application of termination and your passport/Chinese National ID card to do so.

HSBC anyone?

shangdbhai wrote:I hope to get advice for our situatiion. We'd like info from this forum at least to give us some idea of what to expect and what is reasonable.

Tentative plan:
Oct 27: Checkout (including walkthrough) of apartment
Oct 30: Last day of our 2-yr temporary assignment in Shanghai
Oct 30: We fly back to our home country

1. When do we expect to get our deposit back (2-month's worth of rent)?

2. Should we expect cash or expect the deposit to be refunded directly to our bank account? When we gave the landlord the deposit, we had to go to our bank and transfer the money to some account (not sure if it is the landlord's account or the property management's account).

3. The deposit money was on loan to us from our employer. So we have to give it back to the employer. If the landlord refunds it to us via to account near or long past our departure date, transfer the money to our employer might be a problem. Any suggestions?

4. Is it safe to keep our bank account open still after we have left China especially we don't have a China address? How would the bank handle accounts with foreign home address?

5. Is it possible to close our Shanghai bank account from our home country?

Thank you for your help!

I received my deposit back immediately after the check-out. He did an inspection, checked the meters and worked out the bills himself. You can also check with China Telecom for balance on that day, but my landlord didnt bother - we had a good relationship. Then he went to the bank, took out my deposit less the bills and gave it to me in cash. I would ask for the deposit back as soon as the keys are handed back as then the condition of the property is out your control. However, if there is specific provision in the lease, then that may have priority.

On that note, if anyone is looking for an excellent landlord/landlady, I can highly recommend them. I know they have properties in the Park Aves and elsewhere. It's an American Chinese husband and wife team, fluent English and very helpful and responsive. Just PM me for their details.

For water, gas and electricity bills, we can read the meters, calculate the fees and pay landlord in cash.

What about the tepehone-DSL service fee for the month that we are checking out of the apartment, how do we settle this with the landlord? We normally don't get the bill until the following month.

Thanks.

^ Landlord can call the service provider and get the outstanding amount through phone.

every landlord stole my deposit and lied about the bills, trying to read the meter backwards , haha and making up bs lies. chinese landord and agents for those that cant read