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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Agents barging in to your apartment before you move out?
I'm going to move apartments in 3 days. My landlord knows that, so do the agents.
Just now, from work, I get a text message from my girlfriend who's still at home, saying the agent tried to barge into our apartment because he thought no one was at home. She was terrified and barely managed to close the door on him. When she called him, he just dodged the questions.
I'm so goddamn furious I feel like bashing someone's skull in. I don't know if they were planning to steal shit or just didn't care. Either way, they're going to hear from me.
Are there no rules, no privacy in this country? Has this type of behavior happened to anyone else?
12 years 33 weeks ago in Health & Safety - China
Are there no rules, no privacy in this country? Has this type of behavior happened to anyone else?
no no and yes, all the time
This kind of behavior seems to happen all the time in China. I know in the states an agent needs to give you 24 hours notice before entering your apartment, but in china, you can usually just call right before knocking on the door, or if you have a really bad agent, they will just come in unannounced.
I had a friend who was living in a place in Wudaokou (in beijing), where his roomates changed 8 times during one semester. He later found out that his agent was marketing the place as a (live with a foreign and learn english) apartment, was charging 4,000 RMB per room and was letting people move in immediately. The agent stopped by at 23:00 a couple of times with "new roommates", banging on my friends window (apt was on the first floor) until he let the guy in. And when he confronted the agent about it, he just acted like he didn't understand him....the situation led to my friend leaving the country....
Moral of the story is: there may or may not be laws against this sort of thing, but they are not enforced at all. So be careful when looking for an apartment to rent. Take a chinese person with you if you can, as they can spot a rat much easier than we can.
How can the agent do that?
Why does he have the key?
I change my lock first thing when I move to a new apartment.
Agents are complete dicks most of the time.
When they want something, they will harass you with phone calls, text messages and visits until you give them what they want. They'll win through attrition.
Of course, when you want something from them, they'll just act evasively or simply dodge your calls.
If you're having problems with them, my suggestion is to either be very forceful (read: belligerent) and if they're doing something that's completely over the line, threaten to go see the police/call landlord/bash their face in.
Those people are snakes.