Rental

The price for renting an apartment can begin as low as 500 RMB/month. Apartments can be found ranging from bare concrete walls and floors to one that is completely furnished including the bed sheets and kitchen utensils. It is not hard to rent an apartment in the city.
How to rent
 
1. Go apartment hunting alone and deal with the owner yourself.
2. Go to a rental agency that has apartments listed, they will call the owner and help arrange the contract but the contract is between the owner and the renter. This agency will charge a fee.
3. Go to an agency which has apartments under their control – they will act as the apartment manager, the contract is between the agency and the renter.

When the housing agency has successfully helped the renter find an apartment, the renter should pay the apartment agency a fee for the service (this is not the seeing apartment fee, but a separate charge). The common fee for a successful contract of a one-bedroom apartment is 100 RMB, multiple bed-room apartments will be more expensive.
 
Who pays for what?
 
The renter will normally pay:
Electricity, gas fee, water bill and the community management fee, telephone fee, internet fee. The renter assumes financial responsibility for damages they incur.

The apartment owner will pay:
Heating fee (for the heating system in the winter).

What the City Charges the Resident
 
1.Water 
There is one company responsible for supplying water for the whole city. The water price is 1.6RMB/m3.

Occasionally the water supply might be cut off for a couple of hours, but sometimes for days (for repairs). There will be posters informing you of this.

The public water is not considered drinkable unless it is boiled. Actually, many foreign families use a bottled water machine for drinking and for cooking.

2.Gas 
The cooking gas price is around2.4 RMB/m3.
 
3.Cable TV 
The cable TV provides many stations. CCTV has more than ten channels, and there are also many other provincial TV channels. CCTV 9 is the English Channel.
The price for using the cable is around 12 RMB/month.
 
4.Electricity 
The electricity price is 0.45 RMB/KW.
Occasionally the electricity may be cut off for repairs.

5. Heating
Different companies supply heating to the communities in winter, and the fees are different but all are paid in one lump sum for the winter not monthly. If the fee is not paid, the heating system will be turned off.

The system is a radiator system and every year in late October, the heating companies post signs by the entrances of the apartment buildings informing residents when they are going to “test” the heating system. The heating companies then run water through the heating system for a short period of time (during the day), and the residents should have a person at home checking and reporting any leaks to the heating company (or solve the problem by themselves). Since there are many different heating companies, the testing time will vary.

Note: There is no central heating system south of the Yangtze River. In your home you will want to buy space heaters. Another option is using the heating system in your air conditioning unit.
 
6. Telephone and Internet (Please see Communication category)

Safety
 
China is a very safe place for foreigners. However, in general, a walled community is safer than apartments which are open.