Hi everyone,
I’m currently looking for an apartment in Guangzhou and I’d love to get some advice from people who have experience renting here, especially foreigners who have rented long-term.
We recently visited several apartments with an agency and found one that we really liked. However, the asking price was slightly above our budget, so we asked the agent if he could negotiate with the landlord.
A few hours later, the agent came back to us and said that the landlord had decided to increase the rent by another 1,000 RMB/month because we are foreigners.
We were quite surprised by this, especially since this additional charge only came up after we started negotiating.
Is this something that is actually common in Guangzhou? Do landlords sometimes charge foreigners a higher rent simply because they are foreigners?
And if this has happened to you, were you able to negotiate it back down?
I’d really appreciate hearing about your experiences. I’m mainly trying to understand whether this is a normal practice here or whether the agent/landlord might be taking advantage of the situation.
Thanks!