Chris Edwards

    2045038940@qq.com

    I RECENTLY signed a contract with a new company, which means that I am getting a housing allowance instead of having accommodations provided for me.

    I viewed this as a fantastic opportunity for me since I could finally move in with my girlfriend to an area between both our workplaces to make commuting easy for us both.

    I am sure some of the people reading this who have been in Shenzhen longer than my two years are already laughing at my naivety, and I freely admit that when it came to looking for an apartment, I believed that it would not be very difficult. The Internet has revolutionized finding apartments in Western countries, with real estate agencies held to high standards and numerous websites available for prospective tenants to compare prices across suburbs and districts.

    However, when I started looking for apartments here in Shenzhen, I found that the opposite was true. Ringing a phone number attached to an online advertisement would often result in a number no longer being in service. The photos were clearly not real. What I found most infuriating was having real estate agents inform us that the monthly rent they were advertising was not, in fact, the monthly rent, but was a figure that could be anywhere from 700 yuan (US$114) to 1,000 yuan below the “actual” monthly rent for the apartment.

    Now, I accept that I come to China from a country with laws regulating ‘truth in advertising’ and the like, but given the recent announcements in China about changes to its rules around advertising food, I think the government needs to examine the real estate industry.

    Admittedly, this is a personal bugbear of mine, and we did find an apartment of our own after skipping the agencies altogether. However, the point is that this approach by real estate agencies hurts everybody. It reduces the level of trust in one of the biggest employers in the People’s Republic of China at a time when the government has a vested interest in having residential properties bought and sold as often as possible. Potential tenants quickly learn which agencies to talk to and which agencies to avoid. The government suffers from reduced taxes as a result of tenants settling for lower priced accommodations instead of what they truly wanted. Real estate agents have abuse hurled at them by potential tenants because of the incorrect information and by clients because of the lack of tenants.

    The lack of transparency in the real estate industry needs to change in multiple areas. I am sure that there are many expats with their own thoughts about this industry, which I would love to read.

    (The author is an Australian English teacher in Bao’an District.)