Just something to be aware of. The fine print in the contract says 不含稅
I’ve never heard of such a thing in the many years that I’ve rented. Basically what they are saying is that on top of the listed rent and the management fee, you pay extra rent. So it ended up being about 5000-6000 more per month than the list price (after management+property tax). This wasn’t mentioned in the actual negotiation, but only stated in the fine print and brought up incidentally.
How is this even legal? Fortunately I caught the fine print and told him 算了before signing.
Downside is now I have 72 hours to find a new place. Or I can just ask my current landlord very nicely to add a week and I’ll pay him a quarter of my monthly rent.
You could tell him this clause is illegal and the fine is 30k-300k. But you can agree that the landlord did not know this and as compensation he can let you stay until you find a new place.
[!quote] for landlord:
內政部頒訂的住宅租賃「應約定及不得約定事項」明文禁止房東約定不得讓房客遷戶籍、不得申報租賃支出，而且——最關鍵的一點——不得約定將房東自身增加的稅賦轉嫁給房客，這類條款一律無效。2018年6月27日租賃專法施行後成立的租約，房屋稅、地價稅、綜合所得稅都不能轉嫁給房客；而自2023年修法後，房東與房客之間視為「消費關係」，全面適用消費者保護法，違反「不得記載事項」可處新臺幣3萬至30萬元罰鍰。
I didn’t sign onto the place that was trying to get me to pay the tax. I have to move because my old landlord wants to sell and needs time to fix the place up.
Even if the new landlord agreed to not charge me the tax, it’s the fact that he tried to rip me off in the first place. If he tries to pull a fast one now he will try to rip me off in the future.
For example if they listed it at 25k and said, oh there’s a management fee of 2k, I’d understand that since you can’t get away from management fees. Instead they list it at 22 and say something like, “Oh, there’s a management fee of 2k, plus taxes of 3k”. They list it and you think you’re getting a deal, and well the 2k, there’s nothing you can do about that. But a whole 5k above list price (almost 20%) is basically a bait and switch if you ask me.
99% of the landlords here do not pay tax. If you want them to pay tax then it’s 10-20% extra rent. If you report them then they’re going to keep your deposit and cause other issues.
If you only want to search for properties that pay tax, then on 591 include the term 含稅 - it means it includes tax (example: MRT中山｜璞永建設｜高樓景4房4衛｜雙車位｜含稅 - 591租屋網 ). Or rent from a big rental company like https://oceancity.tw/ - they will do background checks, employer verification and go through the proper procedures like pay taxes, and they will happily accept foreigners assuming you have a steady salary.
Best to avoid the landlords that start giving you trouble even before signing.
I’ve viewed an apartment where the listing said that the rent is negotiable and that all fees are included - only for the agent to tell me that this goes both ways and the landlord would like to negotiate that the management fee should be paid separately. RUN (not walk) from those agents / landlords…
I think in this case OP didn’t even ask for this - the landlord just put a hidden fee into the contract without mentioning it.
Probably best to ask your current landlord for an extension (half month or so). If desperate, offer slightly more than your current rent. Many landlords would take that deal - usually they don’t care that much if they sell a month later but get another month’s rent.
The realtors in Taiwan typically get you to sign a rental agreement that says 不含稅 or 含稅. It was the case for the first two contracts I signed. It means they can sue you for beach of contract if you cause them losses. I think they left the terms vague on purpose in terms of who has to pay the tax, so in the end they could say the lessee has to pay it because the contract did not say the landlord has to pay it (I’m not a lawyer). It’s like leaving the opportunity to blackmail each other so it’s not in the interest of either parties to report the other.
Hard to tell from the original post, but it could be a case of asking how much extra for 含稅 and of course they would quote a much higher number.
In that case, it should have been part of the negotiation - and not just sneaked into the contract as a dollar amount.
From my understanding, “不含稅” shouldn’t mean that you definitely have to pay a specific amount of tax every month in addition to your rent - just that the landlord will try to sue you (more or less successfully…) or just keep your deposit if you try to claim the rent deduction. If you don’t claim it, all is well and no “tax” payable from the tenant…
In general they’re not actually trying to get you to pay the tax, per se. They’re signaling that they don’t intend to report the income and generate the resulting tax. If you engage in any activity (e.g. a business) that causes the rental to be reported and taxed, they consider that as being outside the agreed rent. Of course they could just declare the income and charge a higher rent, but they get the market advantage of renting the place at a lower rate. Pretty typical over there.
So if they are including the tax in the cost of the rent, then I can claim a deduction when I file my taxes, and I would have gotten the money back when I filed my tax return?
As @jimbob132 points out, if you cause the landlord tax trouble (because they’re not reporting), then they will cause trouble for you, but as @Brianjones says, you can smile nicely and go with the flow, and if they do turn out to be a pain in the ass anyway, you can continue to smile nicely then move out later and poke them in the eye safely (after you get your deposit back!) for at least that last year. (Maybe more if you can file amended returns for prior years? Dunno on that option.)