How to rent a room or an apartment in Shanghai

This is a complete guide to rent an apartment, or just a room in a shared flat, in Shanghai. You will learn:

• The best websites to rent an apartment in Shanghai (both in English and Chinese language).

• The pros and cons of looking for a room or an apartment on the internet.

• A nice trick to get a better price if you are looking for a room in a shared flat.

• The pros and cons of using an agency, how to spot an honest agency.

• What are the expenses beside the monthly rent (security deposit, agency fee, electricity and so on).

• Why you must ask for a regular contract.

• The most common scams while renting an apartment in China.

• Which is the best zone to live in Shanghai if you want to have a social life without spending hours in a cab.

Looking for an apartment on the internet

If you are just landed to China and you don’t know anybody, the fastest way to find an apartment is probably to check the websites in English language. I recommend Smart Shanghai, Craigs List, City Weekend and Inter Shanghai.

The pros are that you won’t have to hunt for an agency on the street and most luckily you will deal with a landlord (or an agent) that can speak decent English.

Also, if you are in a tight budget (less than 3,000 RMB per month, that is about 500 USD) and you don’t want to live too far away from downtown, getting a room in a shared flat will be your only choice.

In this case, since very few agencies deal with “rooms” (they usually want you to rent the whole apartment), internet is your best bet.

The cons are that the apartments and rooms are usually more expensive (this is logical because the landlord knows that he’s addressing foreigners, often newcomers that can’t speak Chinese) and they get rented fast.

Especially for rooms in shared apartment, you either visit and take the room straight away or someone else will. It’s frustrating.

However, if you can speak Chinese or have a Chinese friend that is willing to help you, you can also check on the websites in Mandarin. Here the most popular: Sou Fun, Bai Xing (that is Chinese’s Craigs List) and Hao Zu.

Also on the Chinese websites the best rooms and flats get rented fast. However you will have much more choice and the prices will be way cheaper.

Another option for getting a room in a shared apartment

There is a Couchsurfing’s group called Shanghai Living / Apartments / Real Estate, which is quite active. You could sign up and see if there is anybody looking for a room. In this case you could propose to him/her to join you and look together for a flat. If there isn’t any people that already posted a message, you can still post a message yourself saying “Hey, I’m looking for a roommate. Anybody interested?”
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