Beijing apartment rental guide

I live since more than 2 years in China, move very often, and had many different situations when come to question “which flat should I choose?”

Location

First operation, is to choose a location. Even the have subways, buses and cheaper taxis, Beijing is a quite large city. So basically, don’t find a place which is more than 45min, door-to-door from your work place, or your daily life will be terrible.

Transportation is also an important point, choose a place with subway not too far (less than 1km), if this station can be an interconnection with 2 lines, it will be even better (Dongdan 东单, Guomao 国贸, Dongzhimen 东直门,..).

An optional point, think about where you live should be too far from your friends or “evening/night” places. It’s quite annoying to spend 50rmb taxi everytime you want meet your friends. Normally if you live inside the 4th ring, it will be fine.

Building/Living

Now you know in which areas you want to live, so we can now pick up a building in these areas. My first advice will be to really take care of the building age. Buildings built before 2000/2001 are really “old” and mostly not really suitable for “foreigners”, or maybe if you really want to find low price flats..

Normally it’s not a problem in China, but check if there is all the convenient store near your home, a small supermarket, some small restaurants, some coffee shop, some small chinese shop where you can buy your daily baijiu,.. Because it’s very annoying to take subway or bus just because you need some sugar.. But one more time, normally it’s not a problem, in China there is always shops near your home !

About the building, or maybe the complex of building, you should take a look of the place, if it’s clean, have trees,.. another important point, does the place have guard? Doors are closed (not broken..) ? Check if the building have lifts.. because 5 floors are nothing.. but everyday climb 5 floors, you’ll hate yourself very fast.

Flat himself

Ok, now we have a precise place to live, so we can start to visit some flats.

The flat is more a personal choice or.. heart choice, so I cannot be very detailled here. Just keep in mind some basics points.

Check the kitchen don’t be shy and try to open the closets or cupboards.. sometimes we really have big surprises.. Do they give you some equipment (rice cooker and cie). Check the bathrooms, open the water, try the hot/cold water, also check if there’s no special problems with the shower. Check the bedrooms, check the heater/airconditioner, check the view, it still better to see a park than a parking. Check the living room, check the tv and equipment, the sofa is ok, not too old or dirty… also prefer wood floor, its really better for the foot.

The size of flats should be a problem in China, it will always be bigger than what you can have in another country.

Other tips..

If you are really new in China, maybe you haven’t idea about the price here. Let say that:

• studio/1 bedroom: 1500-4000 rmb/month (classical medium price: ~3000rmb)
• 2 bedrooms: 3500-6000 rmb/month (classical medium price: 4000rmb)
• 3 bedrooms: 5000-8000 rmb/month (classical medium price: 6000rmb)

I’ll try to make a Beijing make with the price by square meter when I have time. But normally it’s something like that:

• Luxury flat, new building: 100rmb/sqm/month
• Normal quality, new building: 60rmb/sqm/month
• Normal quality, old building: 50rmb/sqm/month
• Low quality, old building: 30-40rmb/sqm/month

Please don’t take these price very seriously, this is just to give you a brief idea. Also don’t forgot, a price should be negociated, you always can grap some hundreds.. :)

Beijing CBD view