Posted by
Copus79
17 yrs ago
Hello. young Canadian teacher here, It's my first year in HK-- have a few questions about rent.
The Pacifica, Lai Chi Kok.
The first year of our lease is almost up. Its a one year fixed + one year option. There is no notwithstanding clause. The land lord mentioned to me, while up fixing the 1000th thing that has broken in the place, that we will have to negotiate after for next year.
We have 3 roomates and can manage but next year we will only have two. Its a nice apartment, close to work, with a nice view of the harbour. But its not THAT nice that I would swallow a huge rent increase just to keep it.
How much can I expect the landlord to drive the price up? And what reason is there for the price to go up, besides greed and him having the power to do so? In theory the place is one year older, now its under construction 24/7 with an MTR stop being added below and I have literally fixed or replaced everything in this apartment.
Any information / advice for the negotiating process?
Will my rent go up for next year?
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How much do you think he will want to artificially drive the market value up ?
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sxc
17 yrs ago
I thought that recent lease agreements allowed both sides of the lease to terminate after the first year with 2 months notice?
Previously, only the tenant was allowed to terminate after the first year.
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Im telling you he said we must renegotiate after year 1. It will happen now.
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"(if he can increase the rent for the second year, what is the point of signing a lease for 1+1?)"
I don't know-- we were new to HK, new to the way it works here. I thought the rent was set for 2 years. But now he says its one year plus one year negotiable.
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Please check your Tenancy Agreement first, under normal circumstances your Landlord has no right to increase the rent for the second year ( the option year ), you are going to pay the same rent as your first year, because your lease is good for 24 months. Unless your Landlord solely has the option to terminate the lease after first year. Check the Tenancy Agreement carefully, find out which one of you has the option to terminate the lease or both of you have the option ?
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ldavy
17 yrs ago
Bella1, if the landlord has the option to terminate the lease after the first year, then he can also increase the rent after one year. He probably shouldn't do this but he can just say to the tenant, "I'm going to use the break clause to give you two months' notice unless you pay more rent". Whether the tenant and the landlord both have the right to terminate the lease is neither here nor there.
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Idavy , Yes, if the Landlord has the option or both parties have the option, then the Landlord has the right to terminate the lease by serving the tenant two months notice. In that case the Landlord can increase the rent, that's why it's important to check the Tenancy Agreement carefully. Each Tenancy Agreement is different, in some case only the tenant has the option. If there is no mention about the option in the TA, then the Landlord has no right to increase the rent.
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I have checked the agreement-- both parties have the option to break lease after one year.
So this means he can tell me the rent is going up and I can negotiate or break the lease, correct?
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aemom
17 yrs ago
There were some threads on this forum last fall about this situation which show up in a search of "tenancy" but which don't open - I guess because of the change of format of the forums.
Yes, under this new lease, the 1 + 1 is rubbish. It is 1 + landlord raises to whatever price s/he wants and tenant pays or moves.
Our landlord wanted to raise our rent by 20% but we negotiated to 11%, but we're now moving as he is making noises about higher rents in the building for the same size flat.
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ldavy
17 yrs ago
Hi Copus79,
Yes, that's correct.
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Ken A
17 yrs ago
Since I've been here (almost 5 years), until I recently bought a place all my rental contracts have been for 1 + 1 year contracts. The first year was fixed no matter what, with the second year being breakable by both sides with 1 month notice.
If a landlord wishes to increase the rent after 1 year, they can give the tenant 1 month notice and be within the contract agreement.
It really depends on the landlord you have - we haven't actually ever stayed in a place for the full 2 years, the first time it was a company lease and was terminated early by the company, the next time it was terminated by the landlord as they wanted to move into it themselves (and sell their other place) and the last time we moved out exactly 13 months after moving in becuase the landlady had to make compulsory changes to the flat.
Given the hassles of moving every 13-15 months I figured I might as well buy a place, and end up paying less for a mortgage than I was for renting.
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