What Can You Bargain for When Signing a Lease?

Finding the perfect apartment in Taipei can be tricky. Sometimes you think you’ve found the one, but it’s pricey, or the terms of the lease aren’t great. The good news is that in many cases it’s possible to negotiate a slightly better deal — agents are keen to get their commission, so will work hard to broker an arrangement that’s satisfying to both parties, and landlords usually want to rent out their properties as quickly as possible to reliable tenants. And while trying too hard to bargain can sometimes lose you the apartment (someone else might come along who’s prepared to sign the lease without changing a thing), it doesn’t hurt to try and get the best deal possible. Here are a few of the things you can try to negotiate before signing a lease:

Duration of Stay

One of the greatest bargaining chips you have is how long your lease is for — most rental contracts are a year long, but if you choose to sign for over a year, you can often negotiate for other benefits like reduced rent. You can also try to negotiate for an earlier or later move-in date, but this really depends on the landlord. In our first apartment, we managed to negotiate an early move-in and a free week. It pays to try!

Rent

Just because the listing on 591 says it’s $30,000 a month doesn’t mean that figure is set in stone — it’s normal to try and bargain down the price a little bit, as long as you keep it reasonable and respectful. You probably won’t be able to shave more than a couple of thousand (if that) off, and the very most we have ever heard of is a full 10%. You will have more bargaining power if you can pay a few months of rent upfront.

Deposit

Like rent, sometimes the deposit can be reduced from the standard two months to a month and a half or just a month. We would be wary of anyone prepared to forgo the deposit completely, as it may mean they are illegally renting the property.

Utilities

You will find that the rent for some apartments includes all or some utility bills, while others do not. If it does include bills, you can often bargain the rent down if you agree to pay all bills yourself — of course, this is only economical if you think you won’t use much in terms of electricity and water, etc. You can also try to negotiate for certain bills to be included in the overall rent — the internet or management fee, for example. You may also want to double-check exactly what is included in each bill that you will be paying — you may be charged an additional fee for waste disposal that you assumed was included in the management fee, for example.

Furniture

You may not be able to reduce the rent because of the furniture (though you can try), but the best time to negotiate what furniture stays and goes is before you sign the lease. Sometimes landlords will agree to change furniture, or at the very least remove items you do not need. You may want to check furniture for mould or damage that would mean it would fall apart on your watch. If the apartment is unfurnished, you can suggest that you will buy furniture and leave it after you move if the landlord gives you a better deal.

Garbage Disposal

Some buildings in Taiwan offer a garbage/recycling disposal service, while many do not. If you have lived in a building with no trash disposal service, you will know how annoying it can get to remember exactly which days to dispose of it yourself, but we have a life hack — we actually know people who were able to successfully negotiate for the landlord to help arrange a deal between tenants and waste collectors in the area, so that their trash was collected from their door. It’s a bit of a long shot, but it’s been done before!

Terms of the Lease

Read your lease carefully before signing anything. If it isn’t in English, do your best to bring a Chinese-speaker with you. If the contract is in both English and Chinese, make sure the information matches. Rental contracts here can sometimes have weird clauses like not being able to cook or have visitors of a certain gender, so it’s imperative that you know there’s nothing dodgy in yours that could cause you trouble in the future. Usually, if the landlord agrees, you can just cross off these parts on the spot and both sign where you made the changes so there’s no need to go back and reprint the contract.

So there you have it. This list is by no means comprehensive, nor are you guaranteed to reach an agreement with any one landlord. A respectful way to start negotiations is by telling the landlord or agent how much you love the apartment, but that it’s a little bit over your budget, or not close enough to the MRT, doesn’t have X piece of furniture, etc. While having a Chinese-speaker with you during the negotiations is usually the best way to get the arrangement you want, there’s nothing stopping you from trying in English if your agent or landlord speaks it. In some cases, the agent or landlord will agree to a reduced price or to a change or terms because they want to get the lease signed as soon as possible — just don’t test them too much, because you might lose the opportunity if you drag your heels. Apartments here can be snapped up in a matter of days, if not hours!