Hello everyone:
I am relatively new to HK and just nearing the end of my 1st year on a 2 year lease for a furnished apartment. Everything has been relatively fine until my TV broke and my landlord is refusing to replace it.
Under my rental contract, it states the Landlord provides two TVs: a 37" and a 21" TV. The landlord took the broken TV but then informed me it could not be fixed and that I may now buy my own TV and take it with me when I leave.
The lease was undertaken privately without an agent (friends of friends). Things have been pretty decent up until this TV breaking, but they recently raised the rent on me (starting in my second year).
Does anyone have any advice for dealing with this in a constructive way? Or am I simply out of luck?
The landlord has been nice up until this point and even helped with some noise complaints I had. I would let it go, but I have this feeling of being ripped off: I'm going to be paying more rent and I now have lost the main TV that they are supposed to provide. (I use it a lot for work at home, etc.)
Friends are telling me that I'm out of luck because it's my second year and the contract never said 'working TV'.
Thanks!
p.s. Please also keep in mind that there is a bit of a language barrier. The landlord prefers to communicate via whatsapp.