Can foreigners in Taiwan rent a House or Apartment ?

Can foreigners in Taiwan rent a House or Apartment, even though they might be just visiting the country and have no special visa currently ? Thanks

I think you need a local to consign. Someone probably has more knowledge and facts.

It depends on who is doing the renting. I had a landlord who rented to me without ever looking at my ID. However, it was a cheap-ass place in the middle of a day market. The nicer places Iā€™ve rented all want to see an ID. Also, most want at least a year, and theyā€™ll take two months security deposit. Iā€™ve never been asked for a local to co-sign for me.
Hope the info helps.

If you pay more than usual and for the whole period in advance, they may rent for short term without ARC or visa.

Thanks, but I wanted to ask if I can Rent an ā€œApartmentā€ or ā€œHomeā€ Legally ? Am I allowed to rent a house or apartment having only a Passport. I will be staying and visiting people and relatives here, and just want to know if it is legal to rent . Thanks

ā€˜Legallyā€™ is a term that doesnā€™t really matter here. Most rental contracts are not legal, because the landlords arenā€™t declaring taxes for renting their places out. This makes the contracts more of a gentlemanā€™s agreement. What matters is whether you can find someone who is willing to rent to you. And no one but a landlord can answer that question for you.

I think it is legal. There is no law to ban foreigner or traveler rent a house.

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A lease is a contract between a landlord and a tenant. Tax evasion by the landlord does not invalidate that contract.

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Even if the contract is not notarized? My understanding is that for the contract to be valid, it must be notarized, and many landlords avoid this because it puts them on the hook for taxes. By the way. Iā€™ve been to court over this before, so Iā€™m speaking from experience, not just a website I look stuff up on.

You mean the court said your contract in particular was invalid, or all rental contracts are invalid unless notarized?

Feel free to PM me the case number or a copy of the decision if you have it lying around.

Not perfectly valid and illegal are different.

Notarization is not a formal requirement for lease agreements. The ROC Civil Code generally allows for oral, written, and notarized lease agreements (art. 422). The benefit of a notarized agreement is that in case of a transfer of property ownership the new owner will be equally bound by the lease agreement (art. 425). You might be surprised to read that generally speaking there is no requirement for a written contract unless specifically required by law. All that is needed is for the parties to the agreement to have expressly or impliedly declared their concordant intent, i.e. agreed on something. (art. 153). Two guys nodding a few times and burping at each other could very well be a legally valid agreement.

Hence, please familiarize yourself with the law before making such general statements that could disinform casual readers of this forum.

Notarizing a rental agreement does not magically establish tax liability. Landlords are on the hook for taxes either way. Even drug dealers and prostitutes are on the hook for taxes.

Thatā€™s very interesting. I am sure if you could provide some more details of the situation, we could clearly understand your point. In civil law jurisdictions such as the ROC, courts do not simply come up with new principles. Hence what I ā€œread on website I just look stuff up onā€ is likely the most powerful source of law in this country.

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If this is true, then why does the NIA accept lease contracts that are not notarized when applying for and renewing ARCs?

Well, not usuallyā€¦

Because if they didnā€™t 99 percent wouldnā€™t have an official address? They do catch delinquent landlords not paying their taxes that way. That is why for locals if they want to have hukou in their rental residence, they have to pay extra. For us, usually the landlord just kicks us out rather than pay taxes. My niece twice removed needs the house is usually the excuse. Or raises our rent. That happened to me.

Which also begs the question: they really should ask notarized? What purpose does it serve? That we agreed the house came with two tables and one rocky chair?