So, I have been thinking of moving for a while now, my 2 bedroom apartment is just getting too small as my boy keeps getting bigger. Haven’t been in a hurry as I need something that suits my work and my boy’s school. So anyway about a month ago, my boy’s babysitter said there was a place available in the building I wanted to move to. Had a look, 60 pings, 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, big kitchen, laundry, two balconies, overlooked the park. Including security fee was NT$20500 a month. A nice place, really too big just for the 2 of us and really a bit more than I wanted to pay. So I asked her to keep looking.
So she found another place, a bit smaller but still 4 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, big kitchen and a dining room, laundry on back verandah, that was OK. It looked good, and was cheaper, NT$18,200 including the security fee and undeground parking for my NSR.
So I give the landlord NT$2000 as a holding deposit. Oh, this was at the beginning of September. I told her that I would move on Sept 26/27. She asked when I would pay the 2 months bond and the first months rent. I said as I won’t move in till the end of the month I will give it to her the week prior to moving in. Anyways, the followiing weekend after paying the deposit, the babysitter called me and said that the Landlord has asked that a Taiwan Person go personal guarantor for me. The babysitter seemed to think this was normal, but as I told her, my previous position in Taiwan, I used to hire foreigners to come to Taiwan and find them places to live and this was not the normal procedure from my experience. If others have had that experience, sorry, it was not normal in my previous job. So anyway, the babysitter told me that the Landlord had said that “her friend had rented an apartment to BLACK PEOPLE and that they DRINK BEER”. First I just laughed out loud and then said “What?”. As if Taiwan people never drink beer. I just said to the babysitter, call the landlord and ask for my deposit back, she sounds like trouble, I don’t want to live there. But she said, can’t we just go see her and have a short meeting. So when we go to see her, at the risk of sounding as racist as the landlord herself, I asked her if my skin looked black and that her skin was darker than mine and I asked her if Taiwan people ever drink beer… I then said I only want a six month lease in case she always comes around and gives me trouble so I can get out of there quickly. I was a little rude to her but it wouldn’t have bothered me if she had then said that she didn’t want me there as I was quite pissed at her. She then said that it was OK, I didn’t need the guarantor and that she hoped that I would look after her place. I said to her that I have lived in my present place for 7 years and never had a problem and I told her not to worry, I won’t have all night Mahjong parties like my present Taiwanese neighbours do.
So again she aked me when I would pay the 2 months rent as the bond and the first months rent. I said as I will go to SunMoon Lake next weekend for the swimming race, when I come back, on the Monday, I will come and give her the money and she said that she would then give me the keys so that I could start moving my stuff. So on the Saturday as I was on the bus going to Sun Moon Lake, the babysitter calls me to say that I can’t move into the apartment now as the Landlord’s daughter has returned to Taipei and she needs to let her live there. I come back to Taipei on Sunday evening, go see the babysitter and she gives me back NT$4000 for the deposit, the landlord said she would give me double my deposit back for the inconvenience.
So anyway, yesterday and today were the days I was supposed to move out of my old place and into the new place. My boy was bugging me to take him down the park and on the way to the park we pass the place that I was supposed to move into and what the hell, the “For Rent” signs are back out stuck on the windows of that apartment…
Well, actually I am glad I didn’t move into there now. It was a nice apartment, but what a shit of a Landlord that was and I am sure she would have been a big pain in the butt while I was living there.
Oh, well still looking. but not in a hurry…
