Nightmare on High Street near Bonham Rd

BEWARE! We signed a lease and have regretted the decision ever since. Nothing works and the landlord won't fix anything, including items specified in the contract. They reply that we have been living there long enough so the problem is now ours and our responsibility (even in the public areas). We decided not to pay rent and wait to see if they would then fix SOMETHING...they didn't, we eventually paid rent 2 weeks late and a week later got a summons to appear in a tribunal. Even the realtor who helped us find the property has suggested we simply stop paying rent and move out, but who really needs the hassle? Also, the tenants in the floor below us are incredibly noisy at odd hours (late into the early morning) and unreceptive (the police have been called on mutliple occassions). What could have been a quaint little walk up apartment has become a nightmare. Toilets don't flush properly, sink doesn't drain, bathroom floods when we shower, bedroom smells like a Chinese kitchen if we use the AC or open the windows, stairwell is dark (lights don't work), and the buzzer doesn't work so if someone comes, we have to go down to get them to let them. Oh, and when it rains, each airconditioner in the house has it's own beat - like Chinese water toprture in each room (we sleep with ear plugs in during rainy nights). The landlord has refused to fix anything. Who needs the hassle? I can't wait to get out of Hong Kong, what a horrible place.

Put more effort into picking a place next time. You chose to live in an old part of town in a very old building. Meanwhile New Territories offers many brand new luxury apartments of high quality and likely at price points less than what you pay.

High Street/Bonham Rd is not Hong Kong! As Lucane said, why not try a different part of the city?

Listen to you agent.


Write a letter recording all your complaints. Send it by registered main to your landlord, copying the agent. Make sure you pay the rent up to (at least the day you move out, using the the security deposit), and move on.


You will endure some hassle, but you will be much wiser, and free from the greater hassle you would endure by staying.


If you really cannot bear such hassles, then buy your own place, and you will find that there are different headaches, which maybe are less grating.