This is the background

My wife and I have renewed our lease in February. It is now April and the landlord wants to sell the apartment therefore is sending bunch of people without appointment to our door.

It starts at 6:30 in the morning to 10:00 pm at night where people just suddenly ring the doorbell and want to see the inside of our apartment.

We had it out with the landlord and we told her we are willing to move but our associated costs must be taken care off. Agent fees, moving costs and associated other costs that come with moving as well as having the rental monies already submitted to be returned.

After totalling the total amount required for us to move, they balked at the amount and said they will hold off on selling the property.

We pay twice a year, next payment date is in July.

The landlord has come back this week and said she wants us out when our rent becomes due for the second half of the contract.

She says since she has given us plenty of notice, she is not obligated to compensate us.

We really want a second opinion or to know what our rights are. Can anybody assist?

Do you have a lease? What does it say regarding these situations. My lease spells this stuff out clearly.

I would go to the agent who you used when renting the property and ask them to get involved on your behalf. If it is a good agent, they will do this. If you cheaped out on the agent from the get go...then good luck!!

Also, when someone comes to the house unannounced tell them to F-off and close the door on their face. The landlord will get the message quickly.

Generally, rule of law means nothing in China unless relationships back that up. Maybe someone at your embassy or some expat business or social association has dealt with similar situations before?

Landlord wants to sell before the 20 % capital gains tax, announced March 1, takes effect.
You should receive your deposit back, but don't expect additional costs associated for moving expenses. Not fair, but standard.

My leases always had a standard (for Beijing) double-damages clause, that if the landlord terminates the lease early, they must pay back at a prorated rate, any prepaid rent, and also return double the deposit. I don't know about where you are, but tenants in Beijing have been successful at getting this honored when threatening the landlord with ombudsman/court. It particularly works for a foreigner when the foreigner is not leaving China or that particular city, as they know you have staying power to keep the pressure on. But whatever the consequences are should be in your lease, and you're stuck with those terms.

Do you know if your landlord is fully square with the tax authorities for payment of income tax on the rental income they are getting (widespread tax avoidance by landlords on this)? If you know they are flouting the law and not paying it, you can threaten to report landlord to tax authorities, which is probably the biggest club you can wield in a negotiation over "damages". Since payment of rental tax is by law responsibility of landlord, as a tenant this can't legally come back to bite you.

I'm sure you know that once you take the gloves off, you'll have an enemy forever. I suggest that you start "triaging" your belongings and get the most valuable and critical stuff out of that apartment and into some safe harbor, even if only temporary til you find new digs. Particularly since you seem to not be able to control the flow of sightseers.

And for the benefit of others who are paying their own rent (vs corporate paying), NEVER accept payment terms that have you paying annually or semi-annually. Once they have that sort of chunk of your money, your leverage shrinks considerably in situations such as this. I give landlords a choice: Maximum of two months deposit and pay monthly, or one month deposit and pay quarterly. I walk from the deal if they won't choose one of those, regardless of how great the apartment might be.

My landlady is around 80 years old, and I've come to accept the fact that she
is going to show up every Sunday morning... presumably because she has nothing else to do. She doesn't care whether or not I'm sleeping or wearing clothes; her expectation is that I will rise to the occasion, and chat with her about stuff that could easily be done over the phone. While part of me wants to change the locks and tell her to pound sand, she really is a nice lady. Furthermore, my Beijing landlady was even worse... she would routinely let herself in and surf the internet for hours. People that don't want to deal with this should either buy or live in a place with a solid management company (e.g. Shanghai Centre). The rest of us simply need to accept: 1) the Chinese definition of "privacy" is different than ours; and 2) we really don't have many legs to stand upon.

Whether or not she's obligated, she has the upper hand, Ed. Your squatters rights may well buy an extra two months, but if she wants you out, she is going to win... full stop. I suggest that you try to appeal to her kindness (I'm in a similar boat, so I speak from experience), and make plans to move on. The cost of doing so will be trivial when compared with the legal fees you would incur by suing her.

As far as my situation is concerned, my landlady also wants to sell, but I explained to her:

1) I have 10 years worth of accumulated crap there, which would be annoying for her to dispose of
2) The apartment is not in a presentable condition for prospective buyers
3) Even if it was, I would not let them in as long as I'm paying her
4) If she boots me, her revenues drop to zero
5) I am nice (a de facto grandson)

Net result... two month extension.