Renting in China: Contracts, Deposits and How to Avoid Common Scams

Renting in China has its own rules — deposits, contracts, agent fees and a few scams worth knowing. This guide walks you through finding a place, signing safely and getting your deposit back.

Last reviewed: September 2026 · Part of our Arrival & Settling In guide series.

Renting is where international students lose the most money in China, and almost always for the same reason: signing something they cannot read. The contract is in Chinese, the terms are unfamiliar, and the pressure to secure a place before term starts is real. This guide walks through the money you will need up front, the clauses that actually matter, the scams that specifically target foreigners, and the move-in-day habits that get your deposit returned.

Renting in China: On-Campus or Off-Campus First

Decide this before you start looking, because it changes everything else.

Factor	On-campus dormitory	Off-campus apartment
Cost	¥600 – 1,500 / month	¥1,500 – 6,000+ / month depending on city
Up-front payment	Usually one semester	Deposit + 3 months’ rent + agency fee
Contract complexity	Minimal — university handles it	Full Chinese lease, all risk on you
Registration	Handled by the university	You must register at the police station yourself
Privacy and freedom	Shared room, curfews, restricted guests	Your own space, your own rules
Community	Easy to meet people	Requires more effort

The standard recommendation for your first year: live on campus. You get a cheap, safe, contract-free place to land while you learn the city, build the language skills and make the contacts needed to rent well later. Move off campus in year two with a Chinese-speaking friend and a much better sense of what a fair price looks like.

Full details on dorm types and application timing are in the accommodation guide.

Where to Find a Place

• Agencies (中介, zhōngjiè). The dominant route. Walk into a branch in the neighbourhood you want, tell them your budget, and they will drive you around several flats that afternoon. You pay them a fee on signing. Use a large chain for better accountability.
• University housing boards and WeChat groups. Where students find share flats and sublets. Cheapest option, no agency fee, but no protection either — verify who actually owns the place.
• Chinese platforms. 链家 (Lianjia), 贝壳找房 (Beike), 自如 (Ziroom). Lianjia and Beike are the two serious ones with verified listings; Ziroom operates its own managed apartments with standardised contracts, which removes most of the risk at a premium price.
• Walking the neighbourhood. Genuinely effective in smaller cities, where 出租 (for rent) signs with phone numbers are still posted on buildings.

Bring a Chinese speaker. This is the single highest-value thing you can do — an agent’s description of a contract clause in broken English is not a substitute for someone reading it. Most universities have students who will help for a small fee or a meal.

What It Actually Costs Up Front

About these figures: deposits, payment terms and agency fees are set by the landlord or agent, not by regulation, and they are negotiable — the amounts below are what students commonly report in the big cities. Get every figure in the contract before you pay anything.

Budget for four to six months of rent on day one. This is the part that shocks people.

Item	Typical amount	Notes
Deposit (押金)	1 month (sometimes 2)	Refundable. The main thing to protect.
Rent in advance (付三押一)	3 months	“Pay three, deposit one” is the standard formula. Some landlords accept 付一押一.
Agency fee (中介费)	Half to one month’s rent	Negotiable, especially in a slow market. Always ask.
First month’s utilities top-up	¥300 – 800	Prepaid meters for electricity, gas and water.
Furnishings and basics	¥1,000 – 4,000	Bedding, kitchenware, cleaning supplies. Cheaper online.

On a ¥3,000/month flat in a tier-1 city, that is roughly ¥15,000–18,000 before you own anything. Have it available before you start viewing. For how this sits in your wider budget, see the cost of living guide.

Reading the Contract

Chinese leases are usually short — two to four pages — and heavily templated. Have someone translate it fully; do not rely on a verbal summary. The clauses that matter most:

1. Landlord identity and property certificate. The name on the contract must match the name on the 房产证 (property ownership certificate) and on the landlord’s ID card. If it does not, the person signing may be a sub-letter with no right to rent the place.
2. Rent amount, payment schedule and due date. Confirm whether it is 付三押一 (three months plus one deposit) or something else.
3. Lease term and renewal terms. One year is standard. Check whether rent can increase on renewal and by how much — an open-ended clause is a problem.
4. Deposit return conditions. This is the clause to read twice. Look for how many days after moving out the deposit is returned, and what can be deducted.
5. Early termination. What happens if you leave before the term ends? Usually you forfeit the deposit; make sure that is what it actually says rather than a penalty on top.
6. Who pays utilities, internet and management fees (物业费). Management fees are frequently excluded and can add ¥200–600 per month in newer compounds.
7. Repairs and maintenance responsibility. Normally the landlord handles appliances and structural issues; you handle consumables. Get this explicit.
8. Number of occupants and whether subletting is allowed. Relevant if you plan to share.

Ask for a bilingual version or an English attachment if the landlord has one — large agencies often do. It will not override the Chinese text legally, but it shows good faith and gives you a reference.

The Deposit: Getting It Back

Deposit disputes are the single most common problem international students face, and they are almost entirely preventable. The system is: the landlord holds one month’s rent, and on move-out they deduct for damage and unpaid bills before returning the rest.

Your protection is documentation. On move-in day:

• Photograph and video the entire flat before you move anything in — every wall, floor, appliance, window, and any existing stain, crack or mark.
• Photograph every meter reading (electricity, gas, water) with the date visible.
• Write an inventory listing furniture and appliances with their condition, and get the landlord to sign it or acknowledge it on WeChat.
• Keep the photos on WeChat — send them to the landlord so there is a dated record in your chat history. This is far more useful than photos on your phone alone.

Send the move-in photos to the landlord the same day, with a message like “记录一下入住时的情况” (just recording the condition on move-in). It reads as routine, and it gives you a timestamped record they cannot dispute later.

Common improper deductions to push back on: repainting walls for normal wear, replacing items that were already damaged, “deep cleaning” fees that were never mentioned, and utility bills not backed by a meter reading.

Red Flags and Common Scams

Walk away immediately from any of these:

• The agent or landlord cannot produce the property certificate and matching ID. The most common fraud: someone rents a flat for a month, then sublets it to three people with deposits and disappears.
• Pressure to pay a holding deposit before viewing. Never pay to see a property.
• Cash-only, no receipt. Pay by bank transfer or Alipay so there is a record. Get a written receipt (收据) regardless.
• The flat is advertised far below market rate and the agent says another tenant is about to take it. Classic urgency play.
• The landlord will not sign a contract at all and suggests a verbal arrangement. You then have no protection whatsoever.
• The person you are dealing with is not the owner but a tenant who will not show you their own lease. Subletting without the owner’s consent is grounds for eviction.
• Terms that differ from what was agreed verbally. If the contract says something different from what the agent promised, the contract wins.

Using a recognised agency such as Lianjia or Beike removes most of this risk, because they verify ownership before listing. The fee buys you that verification.

Inventory, Repairs and Utilities

Utilities. Electricity, gas and water are often on prepaid cards or app top-ups rather than monthly bills. Find out on day one where the meter is and how to top it up — usually via Alipay or a WeChat mini-program once you have Alipay working. Running out of electricity mid-evening is a rite of passage; it is avoidable once you know the system.

Internet. Usually your own contract with a provider (China Telecom, Unicom or Mobile), installed within a few days. Costs ¥50–150 per month depending on speed. Bring your passport to the shop. Note that you will also want a working VPN setup before you arrive — see the internet guide.

Repairs. Message the landlord on WeChat, describe the problem, and photograph it. Structural issues, plumbing and supplied appliances are normally the landlord’s responsibility. Response times vary from same-day to never, so a landlord who replies quickly is worth a great deal — ask other tenants in the building if you can.

Registration. Within 24 hours of moving in, you must register your address at the local police station. Your landlord is supposed to help; in practice you will need your passport, your lease and the property details. See the police registration guide — this is a legal requirement, not optional paperwork.

Moving Out

Give notice in writing according to the contract term — usually one month. Then:

1. Settle all utility accounts and photograph the final meter readings.
2. Clean the flat to the standard you received it in. Disputes over cleanliness are the most common deposit deduction and the easiest to avoid.
3. Repair or pay for anything you genuinely broke.
4. Do a joint walkthrough with the landlord and photograph the empty flat with them present.
5. Get the deposit return confirmed in writing with a date. Ask for it at the walkthrough rather than “later”.
6. De-register your address at the police station if you are leaving the country, and keep the paperwork.

If the landlord stalls, a polite but firm WeChat message citing the contract clause usually works. If it does not, your university’s international office can often intervene informally, and the photos you took on move-in day are your evidence.

Final Thoughts

Renting in China is manageable once you accept two rules. First, verify the landlord against the property certificate — that single check eliminates most scams. Second, document everything on move-in day, because the deposit dispute happens at the end but is won at the beginning. Bring a Chinese speaker, use a recognised agency for your first rental, and do not sign anything under time pressure. A flat you lose to a scam costs far more than a week of extra searching.

Official resources: 58.com — China’s largest classifieds site for direct landlord listings.

Sources

• Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development — national rules on residential leasing, including the Measures for the Administration of Commercial Housing Leasing (accessed 2026-09)
• National Immigration Administration (NIA, English) — temporary residence registration at your new address (accessed 2026-09)

Disclaimer: Rules, prices and platform features in China change frequently and can vary by city, institution and individual circumstances. Always confirm with the relevant authority or provider before making arrangements.