Tenancy agreement

[hannienicole]

Hi, I have a question about the Hong Kong tenancy laws because they are kinda different to UK laws.

I signed one month ago (almost) a year lease agreement on an unfurnished apartment. I have discovered since that I cannot afford to furnish it. I spoke to the landlord about leaving and they said I should get someone else to take over my apartment as there is no 'break lease' agreement in my tenancy contract. I am going to try and do this, but in the interests of knowing all angles of the situation, what would happen if I were just to leave and say 'that's it'? Would I be held accountable for a whole year of rent or just lose my deposit? Obviously this is not a preferable route but it would be nice to see the whole picture and all options.

Any help would be appreciated.

Hannah

[PDLM]

In practice I think you'd just lose your deposit. But if you stay in the apartment for more than 15 days after rent is due the Landlord can apply to a court for Bailiffs to come and seize any or all of your assets in lieu of the overdue rent.

I'm curious how you got an Employment Visa and are yet not able to afford some furniture! (Or how it didn't occur to you that you would need to buy furniture for an unfurnished apartment.)

[jimbo]

Agreed with pdlm on this.

Can you get another person in to maybe share the costs thus enabling you to furnish it?

Or go to ikea or check the classifieds section here for expat leaving sales etc.

Shouldn't cost too much to furnish an apartment as long as you just buy the basics.

[hannienicole]

Thanks for your replies, good to know.

My apartment is on Cheung Chau so delivery costs from Ikea would be mental! Same for people giving away free furniture- would have to hire someone to bring it to my apartment.
I really can't furnish it and the spare room is tiny. I originally was under the impression that I would be able to get the furniture ridiculously cheap locally (given this impression by the handyman here) but it was not so. Also I hoped to sell my stuff in the UK in order to buy some things for here but couldn't get sufficient time at home to do so. Basically have discovered I'm much more broke than I anticipated! Mainland China where I moved from is much cheaper.

[jimbo]

Well you can hire a man with a van very cheaply out here, I paid $100 for a pick up and drop off for example a few years back, prices should still be similar.

You still can get things cheap though out here locally thats the thing. Check some of the local furniture stores for example and they'll deliver locally for free.

[hannienicole]

Cool, thanks for all your advice

[PDLM]

Well you can hire a man with a van very cheaply out here, I paid $100 for a pick up and drop off for example a few years back, prices should still be similar.

I think you missed two important words: Cheung Chau.

[jimbo]

I think you missed two important words: Cheung Chau.

Oops missed that bit, but then there still should be some local furniture shops etc also you can still get cheap flat pack furniture to take onto the ferry etc.

Hassle yes but no other real world options.