Double Paying Rent on Last day of Lease

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  1. #1

    Join Date
    Sep 2009
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    Double Paying Rent on Last day of Lease

    I take it this is a standard practice in Hong Kong?

    I'm moving from one place to another. Moving into a new place Aug 1st. My current place the lease ends July 21st so I asked for an extension to July 31st.

    They said if I'm not out by 23:59 July 31st I need be charged for Aug 1st.

    I'd be charged double rent for August 1st. That might sound like only 1 day but paying an extra $1500-$1600 HKD when I'm moving out in the morning sucks. That still hurts to pay that much money for an empty apt.

    And I'm not going to even think about moving on July 31st and paying more at the new place, because that place is much more expensive.

    So there's no way of getting out of this double rent day on Aug 1st is there?

    Theoretically I could, but I'm not going to wait until 11:59pm at the old place then jump into a moving van with the kids and run over to the new place by 12:30AM Aug 1st.

    I could spend that $1500 moving into a hotel room on the 31st evening, enjoying the facilities, then checking out in the morning heading to my new apt. That way at least I got to enjoy that $1500. But that's probably kind of lame.

    Just wanted to know if everyone gets double hit on moving day, I'm not used to that. Even in more formal bigger apt complexes in the U.S. I never had that happen, heck with my personal apts I'd give them 3-4 days to move in if they wanted it.

    Oh well, not much I can do about it...


  2. #2

    Join Date
    Oct 2008
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    417
    Quote Originally Posted by PackerFan:
    I'm moving from one place to another. Moving into a new place Aug 1st. My current place the lease ends July 21st so I asked for an extension to July 31st.

    They said if I'm not out by 23:59 July 31st I need be charged for Aug 1st.
    I take it that your old landlord gave you an extension?. Perhaps you can ask your new landlord to give you an exception to hand you the key a week before the contract date/move in date. That would give you time to pack, move your things and settle in. Landlords normally permit this kind of arrangement. I had similar arrangement with mine.

  3. #3

    Join Date
    May 2010
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    4,713

    consider yourself lucky that you dont have to pay rent for the entire month of august;
    or lucky that rent is not double for the days 21sth to 31st july;
    or lucky that you can stay an extra day;
    or have you thought about where to put your stuff for 1 night when you are enjoying all the facilities at the hotel;
    or if $1500 is twice the daily rate, are you telling me your rent is only $6k a month.


  4. #4

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    Apr 2005
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    in all the leases that i've had in hk, and there have been at least 10 of them, probably more, the new landlord has always agreed to hand over the keys a little early. have you not tried asking that of your new landlord?

    i've NEVER paid "double" rent as you stipulate.


  5. #5

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    Sounds rather strange.


  6. #6

    Does sound a bit unusual. The norm, or certainly from my experience, is that the new landlord would usually agree to hand over the keys a few days early (mine have varied from 2 weeks to 2 days early).

    Last edited by Michelle2009; 09-07-2010 at 10:17 PM.

  7. #7

    Join Date
    May 2009
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    675

    Agree with Carang and Michelle - my experience is that the new landlord gives a grace period (I've had between 7-10 days in the past) during which you can start moving your stuff in, be there for utility connections, etc. Speak to your new landlord...ask him what's the earliest you can collect the keys...


  8. #8

    Join Date
    Mar 2010
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    Chicago, IL, USA
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    27
    Quote Originally Posted by dumbdonkey:
    or if $1500 is twice the daily rate, are you telling me your rent is only $6k a month.
    $750x30 would seem to be $22.5k/month.

  9. #9

    Join Date
    Dec 2009
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    I agree with other posters. i recently moved apartment.. My rental contract started on 1st July but they gave me the keys on 24th June. We sorted out gas, electric, water, icable, went to ikea, moved our stuff, and even *slept* there before july 1st! (not sure if the last point is ok but hey I got talked into giving english lessons to the landlady's son at a good price so we're 'friends' now!)

    So yeah, speak to the new landlord!
    Posted via Mobile Device


  10. #10

    Join Date
    Jul 2004
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    Contracts don't have to start or finish on the end of the month!

    My contracts start whatever day we agree, be it the 1st, 5th, 18th or whatever... and, on top of that this grace period is very common as mentioned by others.

    Mine is actually written into the contract - i.e. move in on 18th and only start paying rent from 24th or something similiar.


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