Check a long-term rental’s escrow account before paying a full year’s rent upfront
Original: eternity4719 · source details
Original author: eternity4719 · Chinese source: · English adaptation: parveen0029. Translation and grade notes ↗
Bibliographic titles are retained in their original language.
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Cost and benefit at a glance
In plain terms
The discount you get from paying a full year’s rent upfront is minimal. If the rental company goes out of business, you lose both your security deposit and the rent you’ve prepaid for the remaining months. It gets even worse if you take out a rent loan: even if the company disappears, you’re still obligated to make all monthly loan payments. Always check whether the company has a publicly listed escrow account before signing any lease.
This guide's cartoon · show illustration
Enlarge illustrationOriginal illustration with Chinese lettering; the English dialogue is below. Humour is a reading aid, not evidence.
English dialogue
- We agreed verbally.
- Where is that written?
Cost: what it takes
No cost at all. It takes just a few minutes to verify.
Benefit: what the source reports
Regulations require any housing rental business that sublets units to set up a dedicated escrow account for rental funds and make it visible to the public. Subletting means a company leases entire properties from landlords and then rents them out to individual tenants. The tiny discount from paying a full year’s rent upfront is far outweighed by the risk of losing both your deposit and all prepaid rent if the company shuts down. This risk is even greater if you’ve taken out a rent loan.
Conditions, limits and disagreements
Carefully check whether any loan products are tied to your lease agreement. If a third-party app lets you pay a full year’s rent upfront to the rental company, and you then repay that amount via monthly installments, you’ll still be responsible for all payments even if the company ceases operations. Avoid signing any such contracts.
Original references
Original bibliographic titles and links are preserved; some titles are in Chinese.
国务院 (2025). 住房租赁条例（国令第 812 号，2025 年 9 月 15 日施行）（第十九条）. https://www.gov.cn/zhengce/zhengceku/202507/content_7032956.htm
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