Found my apartment

Temperature: 25 c

Weather: Cloudy

After days of apartment hunting, finally the hunt is over. We landed ourselves an apartment and we are moving in tomorrow after we check out from this hotel.

Though I love staying in hotel, after days of eating the same breakfast every morning, I am quite glad that I am checking out tomorrow.

Getting an apartment in Shanghai is not difficult PROVIDED you are not choosy, not demanding, not unreasonable, and most important of all, have a very high budget. I have seen not less than 10 apartments and I turned down most of them mainly because of 2 things, i.e. location and money.

If you want to get a cheaper apartment, you must be prepared to live in “hulu” areas. Unfortunately my office is located at the most happening and expensive area in Shanghai, it’s called 新天地. If I want to save rent and stay at the rural areas, then I will be punished with heavy traveling costs and time. Remember I said taking bus during the peak hour is a nightmare?

1 room apartment in the vicinity of 新天地 easily cost RMB5000 to RMB7000 per month. At entry level, I am hardly able to pay such rentals. So when the agents called to say they found great apartments for me, the first thing I asked was: how much per month. If it is 5k and above, I would tell the agents not to waste both our time.

Bom is always good to me. He asked me not to rush thing and offered me his place to stay if I am unable to find a place before this weekend (oh, by the way, did I tell you that I have to move out of this hotel by this weekend because my future employer only provides 5 days hotel accommodation?).
But I had already owed him a lot. I was quite embarrassed to ask for his help so I thanked him and tried my best to get myself a place by hook or by crook this weekend.

Just when all hopes seemed gone, one agent called me up yesterday and told me he found a place near my office and the landlord is willing to offer 4k per month (my initial budget was 3k per month, but since 3k was way too unrealistic, I upped it to 4k). I was quite skeptical but nevertheless told him I will meet him in 2 hours time.

It is a 1 room apartment. Approximately 1km from my office. Location wise, it is perfect. The common area looks like a hotel, and it comes with a club house too (I was told I have to pay a few thousand RMB a year to use it).

The apartment is brand new and I would be its first tenant. It is so new that the landlord did not know how to use the security system. It is small though, only 550 square feet (around the size of my living room plus dining room in Klang).


The landlord is a professor from 交通大学 (Jiao Tong University). Please don’t ask me how a professor of a local university could afford an apartment of more than RMB2 millions. I want to know too. Is everyone making big bucks in Shanghai? I sure want to find out. May be the recent share market boom does help a little.

Engtee and I combed the apartment. We like it. It is within our budget and within walking distance from my office, so we decided not to waste more time. We told the agent we are ok with the place. It was at that exact moment the agent pulled out a written tenancy contract from his suitcase and asked me to have a look and sign it!

I was so dead shocked! Wow! If tenancy agreements could be so easily at-the-spot concluded, I guess lawyers in Malaysia will have to learn how to fried kuay teow.

I told the agent I didn’t bring the rentals in advance and deposit (equivalent to 4 months rental). “Can we do the documentation tomorrow?” I begged (see? The “tomorrow syndrome” from the lazy mind of Klang again).

The agent was quite annoyed and disappointed but he had no choice. I had no money to pay him so what else could he do?

The professor said he is a very busy man (by the way, the professor is a very friendly and polite individual), he requested us to meet him at the university to settle the miscellaneous tomorrow. I have no objection so did the agent. Before we left the apartment, the landlord gave me a key (actually not a key but a card, a smart card. There is no keyhole in the door, all you need to do is touch the sensor with smart card “dooo” and the blue light will flash and door will open, kinda high tech har) and allowed me to move in first even though the contract had yet to be finalized.

“Save the hotel cost, move in here first” he said. Ooh! That was very kind of him. We took the key and thanked him. Of course we will not move in so fast lar! Our hotel is paid till this weekend mar! Shhh… don’t let the landlord know.

Today evening Engtee and I went to Jiao Tong University to meet the agent and the professor cum part time landlord.


The professor greeted us wearing his pajamas (it was only around 4pm!!). No joke. I wanted to take a photo to show you all but I guess I’d really better not to piss my landlord off.

The agent showed me the contract and asked me to go through it. I studied the cover. Oh My G! You gotta be kidding me. It is a SAMPLE tenancy contract bought from Carrefour! Inside the SAMPLE contract, one only needs to fill in the blanks. That’s it. No stamp duty required. Thank G that’s not the practice in Malaysia, if not, lawyers will really have to hang their practicing certificate on their mother-in-law’s bedroom and start frying kuay teow.


The agent asked me to produce valid document to proof my identity so he could write my particulars on the first page. I told him I did not bring my passport with me and showed him my IC instead.

“What’s that? Where is your Chinese name.” the agent asked, studying my IC front and back.

I told him I don’t have a Chinese name. My official name is Toh Harnniann. “Then why you tell me your name is 杜韩念?” the landlord puzzled.

I told them my government only recognizes Toh Harnniann, and as far as they are concerned, 杜韩念 has no legal meaning and does not exist. But I always consider myself as 杜韩念, and as far as I am concerned, my name is 杜韩念. Toh Harnniann is just for the government to put it on my birth certificate because they do not allow 杜韩念 to be printed on my birth certificate, my IC, my passport and even my death certificate. But don’t worry, you will not find Toh Harnniann on my tombstone, it will be written 杜韩念. Now come to think of it, quite interesting isn’t it?

So I asked them whether they want to put Toh Harnniann or 杜韩念 in the contract. They thought for a while and decided it’s better to put 杜韩念.

So there it is, my first time using ONLY my Chinese name to enter into a ‘valid’ contract without reference to my IC number or passport number.

Once we put our John Hancock on the contract which comes in triplicate, I paid the landlord RMB16,000.00, the agent RMB1,400.00 as agent fees (35% of the rental).

Ok, I now have an apartment. Whoever wants to come to visit me and Engtee in Shanghai, if you don’t mind, the living room and the sofa bed are exclusively yours (but be warned, we might not have enough space to store your luggage!)