Most Chinese rental apps are Chinese-only, and the two friends below both wasted time before finding that out. These are the ones worth your first week, in the order I would try them. Fees and city coverage change, so treat every number here as "roughly right, confirm in the app".
The one platform built for foreigners from the start. No agents at all, so no agent fee: you message the landlord or the person subletting, directly. Listings and chat both have built-in translation, which is the part that actually matters when almost no agent speaks English.
Watch out: listings come from individuals, so replies can take a day or two and some descriptions skip the details that matter (utility rates, floor, lift). Message several places at once during working hours rather than waiting on one.
Not a listings board. Ziroom leases apartments from owners, renovates and furnishes them to one standard, then rents them out and manages them. You deal with the company, not a landlord, which removes most of the ways a first rental goes wrong.
Watch out: tenants report the English version is buggier than the Chinese one, and English coverage thins out after the search stage, especially with repair and cleaning staff. Breaking the lease early also costs: expect a transfer fee of around half a month's rent, and do it through the app, never privately.
A social app, not a property platform, and yet this is how one of the two friends below actually found her apartment, from Morocco, before she had even landed. People post their own places with photos, the price, the neighbourhood and the walk to the metro. Some posts say 无中介费, no agent fee.
Watch out: nobody checks these posts. No verification, no deposit protection, no contract template. Plenty of posts that look like a private landlord are agents, and photos get reused. Never send a deposit before seeing the place in person, or having someone you trust see it for you.
The biggest rental inventory in the country by a distance, with strict listing checks and physical offices in most neighbourhoods. The catch is the whole thing is in Chinese, so this is the one you use with a translate app open, or with a Chinese-speaking friend on the phone.
Watch out: the agent fee is the thing to settle in writing first, because this is exactly where one friend below got charged double the normal rate. See the numbers section for what is normal.
The oldest English-language listings board in the city, attached to a guide that also explains registration, permits and schools. Listings are screened by hand and the agent behind each one has been checked for English, so the process is smooth. You pay for that in rent.
Watch out: it lists and introduces, it does not protect. No escrow, no standard bilingual contract, no deposit guarantee, so all the checks further down this page still apply.
Not knowing the normal range is what cost both friends money. One aimed too low and burned his week on flats with cockroaches. The other paid an agent nearly double the going rate because she did not know tenants pay agents at all.
The standard here is 押一付三: one month deposit, three months rent, paid together up front. On a ¥4,000 flat that is ¥16,000 before you own a single fork. Some landlords accept monthly, but ask early, because this is the number that catches people out.
If an agent is involved, you pay them, not just the landlord, which surprises almost everyone. About one month's rent is normal and it is negotiable, often down to 0.5 to 0.8. Anything approaching two months is not standard. Settle the number in writing before the first viewing.
If something breaks that you did not break, the landlord pays. Not you. That covers plumbing, boilers, aircon and appliances. Report it with photos straight away and keep the message thread.
| City | Typical range | What that gets you |
|---|---|---|
| Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen | ¥4,000 to ¥6,000 | A decent one-bed or a good room in a shared flat, near a metro line but not central. |
| Guangzhou, Hangzhou, Chengdu | ¥3,000 to ¥4,000 | The same standard, usually with more space for the money. |
| Nanjing, Suzhou, Tianjin, Changsha | ¥2,000 to ¥3,000 | Comfortable, and a shared flat can go well below this. |
Ranges published by Wellcee for foreign tenants, July 2026. Central districts and new buildings run well above; older walk-ups and further-out lines run below. Use these to spot a listing that is suspiciously cheap, because that is usually the trap.
"I chose such low ones that I wasted a lot of time visiting apartments in very precarious conditions. One had cockroaches, another was very dirty."
Pedro · one week to find a place before classes startedEverything below came from people who rented here recently and got it wrong at least once. Nothing is theoretical.
Before you open a single listing, know what a normal flat costs in that city. Without it you cannot tell a bargain from a dump, and every hour spent viewing a dump is an hour you do not have.
PedroYou can line up viewings from your home country. One friend found her Shanghai flat from Morocco: she messaged posters, told them her arrival date, and had viewings booked for the week she landed.
AlaeWhen a landlord goes quiet or says it is suddenly rented, it is not always prejudice. Some residential buildings are not registered to host foreign tenants, which is a local rule, not the owner's choice. Ask directly whether the building can register a foreign tenant, and move on fast when it cannot.
On a first contract, keep it to a year or less. Breaking a fixed lease early carries heavy penalties, and your plans in a new country change more than you expect.
Before any viewing, ask whether there is an agent, what the fee is, and who pays it. Get the number in a message you can scroll back to. See the numbers above for what is normal.
Almost no agent speaks English. Add the agent on WeChat and type, even while standing next to them, because WeChat translates automatically. It is faster and it leaves a record of what was promised.
AlaeThe single best tip anyone gave me. Walk the whole flat on video before you move in: every room, every corner, every mark on a wall, every chipped tile. It is the only thing that stops a deposit argument a year later.
AlaeCheck pressure in the shower and both taps, watch how fast the drains clear, and flush everything. Blocked drainage is the complaint that ruins tenancies, and it is invisible in photos.
Included wifi is often included in name only. Connect your own phone, load something heavy, and see. If it does not work, that is a thing to fix before signing, not after.
AlaeAsk what you pay per unit of electricity and water. There is a real gap between residential rates and commercial rates, and the same flat can cost very differently to run. It is one question and it saves a monthly surprise.
Expect the room to be smaller and darker than the listing. Wide lenses and bright edits are standard everywhere. Judge only what you saw with your own eyes, and never send a deposit for a place nobody you trust has stood inside.
If a living room has been walled off into extra bedrooms, walk away. Those conversions are not legal to live in, and tenants get evicted after paying.
Ask to see the owner's ID and the property ownership certificate, and check the name matches the person signing. If it is a sublet, ask for the owner's written permission to sublet. This is normal to ask and a refusal tells you everything.
Every promise goes in the contract: what the rent covers, who fixes what, how the deposit comes back, what happens if either side ends it early. A promise that is not written down did not happen.
You must register your address with the police within 24 hours of moving in, and you need the landlord's cooperation and documents to do it. Confirm before signing that they will help. Details in the paperwork guide.
Where the platform offers escrow or in-app payment, use it, and keep every transfer receipt. Never pay a deposit before a contract exists, however good the deal looks and however fast they say it is going.
Things break in every flat here, same as anywhere. Message the landlord with photos, keep it friendly, and do not panic and do not pay. One tenant woke to a flooded flat twice: the landlord sent a plumber both times and covered it entirely.
AlaeChinese mattresses are firm by Western standards, and most furnished flats come with one. Ask the landlord for the bed dimensions and order a 10 to 15cm topper on Taobao or Pinduoduo. It costs little and it fixes your sleep.
AlaeWaterproof cover on the mattress first, then whatever sheet you like on top. Mats on the counters and the desk, a cheap waterproof mat in the kitchen. One spill of chilli oil goes through two layers and the deposit pays for it.
AlaeIf someone staying with you is out of status, your landlord can be fined for it, and the problem lands on your record too. It is not worth the favour.
You will meet these in every listing and every contract. Knowing them is most of the negotiation.
One month deposit, three months rent, paid together. The default. 押一付一 (monthly) exists and is worth asking for.
Agent fee. Paid by you, on top of rent and deposit. Around one month's rent is normal, and it is negotiable.
Residential water and electricity rates, the cheaper kind. The opposite, 商水商电, costs noticeably more each month. Ask which one the flat is on.
Whole flat to yourself, versus a room in a shared flat. Almost every listing is labelled one or the other.
No agent fee, which usually means the owner posted it themselves. Worth searching for as a keyword.
A "second landlord", someone subletting a place they rent. Legal only with the owner's written permission. Ask to see it.
Send me the listing, the contract, or the message the agent just sent you. I read Chinese and I have watched friends go through all of this. Add me and I'll also pull you into the newcomers group, where people are renting at the same time as you.
WeChat: martinzhong26 · first 2 questions free
A note on what this page is. Platform details were checked in July 2026 against each platform's own app-store listing and FAQ, and fees and coverage change without warning, so confirm in the app before you commit. The experiences are from real people who agreed to share them. This is orientation, not legal advice: for a contract dispute, talk to a qualified lawyer or your school's international office.