there usually is a 1 month penalty for leaving early. it’s for both sides though, if the land lord asks you to move out he compensates you with 1 month too.
if you know you like the place, the neighborhood etc, by all means, sign a long lease.
It works well in the summer. Don’t use it in the winter unless you enjoy making your room colder. Dehumidifiers are basically very small AC units that use both coils to not make the room cold, it actually makes the room hot.
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While browsing 591, it feels a bit like the places I’m seeing in Taipei proper have generally higher-quality furnishings and interiors than those in New Taipei, even when looking at places which are similar in size and price. Is the difference really that dramatic between the two?
I find it the opposite, new taipei has more affordable modern houses compared to Taipei proper. the question is where you want to live vis a vis school, work etc.
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I think they can give you a couple of months notice anyway. We actually had two places in a row where they wanted to sell so we had to move at the end of the lease.
In fairness both gave full deposits back and one gave us a months rent back because they sold before our lease was up. Still an inconvenience though. Current place we asked about their intentions to sell and they said they weren’t planning on selling. In year three here now. I think at least asking might help a little in reducing that risk
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I think in new Taipei you really have to look at the place directly to get a reliable impression. Sometimes the photos are bad but when you actually see the place it’s good. Other times the photos are ok, but when you visit it has obvious problems.
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On a related note, is there a good way to search 591 for 1st floor residences? I would prefer to be able to let the kids run around if possible.
Edit: never mind, I found it!
Be aware that lower floors usually mean more rodents.
Rodents, as in rats?
Mostly cockroaches, but also rats occasionally.
Ah, ok. Cockroaches I have experience with, rats not so much.
Probably doesn’t matter as adding on the first floor filter didn’t really turn up a whole lot of options.
Any big city has rats, but they stay out of sight usually.
You can see them at nights in parks sometimes, or in places where left over food is available.
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Big ones. And ants, spiders.
Even in the house, you’ll only notice droppings and chewed on food, bags, boxes, plastic containers.
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And sometimes they’re the size of small dogs. And they’re not afraid of humans.
Well, we’ve been to see about 10 places across the city, in Xindian, Yonghe, and Sanchong, and we’ve walked around Beitou, Shilin, Da’an, Neihu, etc. Basically, we’ve seen a couple places that are alright, but they all seem unreasonably expensive compared to a 3 bedroom of similar quality. Plus, they’re so rare that the locations we’ve seen are not exactly what we were hoping for.
I’ve seen advice here and there recommending people to walk around and look at public boards. However, walking around is tiring with 4 children, and it feels like the kind of place we’re looking for (3-4 bedroom, >= 40 ping of interior space, <= $60,000 a month) is pretty rare. So, is it still worth trying? And what exactly is a public board?
Well, we found a place and are moved in! I think that in trying to find a larger place on a budget, we ultimately succeeded but encountered some challenges along the way. Here are some things we learned along the way:
Focus on size of place, not number of bedrooms
Once you’re looking above 3 bedrooms, it really becomes a crapshoot. There are 4 and 5 bedroom places which are smaller than even a normal 3 bedroom place. Then there are 3 bedroom places which dwarf the 4 and 5 bedroom places.
The key number is the interior ping (室內坪), not the listed area which can include ridiculous amounts of “public” space. This will be listed on some places, for example:
However, many won’t include it. Message the agent or landlord and ask! They should have those numbers readily available. Also note that this sometimes still includes balcony space.
We ended up taking a 3 bedroom which was larger than almost every other place we looked at - it includes an off-living room area perfect for the kids, and the master bedroom is bigger than 2 or even 3 normal bedrooms, enough for my home office to be there too.
Location matters
If you’re unfamiliar with Taipei/New Taipei, you’ll want to take some time to walk around the area before deciding on a place. More than once we went to see a house which looked great on the inside, but walking around the place in a roughly 5-10 minute circle quickly changed our minds. And while every area we saw was livable, different areas of town definitely had different vibes.
Plus, if you are planning on sending your kids to the local public school, make sure you verify the distance to the nearest school (and that your house is actually zoned there!). Some places are more than 1 km away from the nearest elementary school.
Finally, being close to the MRT unlocks a lot more options. Being close to an outlying MRT station might be cheaper than being in town but farther away from an MRT.
This won’t matter as much if you are planning to buy a car.
Foreigner discrimination
More than once we were asked if we could get a local Taiwanese to be a guarantor on our rent contract. Just be prepared to justify not only your desire to rent the place, but also your work, family history, and general 素質. We encountered this even with the place we ended up renting—everything turned out fine and we ended up with a great landlord, but there was some back and forth initially.
Misc.
- If your budget allows, get a place that has trash service—these are typically newer, larger buildings with elevators. Apparently it’s normal in Taiwan to have to chase down a trash truck everyday
, but trash service will allow you to take out your trash whenever is convenient for you. - If you have the energy and are staying more than a year, try to get a place that is mostly unfurnished. Second-hand things are fairly plentiful on Facebook Marketplace, and there’s always Ikea. Generally the added monthly cost of a furnished place won’t be worth it, and plus you won’t be able to choose what you like.
- It seems like there are more big apartments in Taipei compared to New Taipei, but costs are higher.
- For a point of reference, a normal 3 bedroom (~30 ping interior space) in a newer building in New Taipei seemed to go for about 30,000 NTD/month. Anything bigger or with more bedrooms was hard to find for less than 50,000. If your budget is > 70,000 NTD or you can forgo trash service, you’ll have an easier time and can also live closer in to the city.
Wrapup
In the end, be ready to compromise. There simply aren’t as many options for large families on a budget. In 2 weeks of active searching, we managed to find a large, spacious place (> 45 ping) that was within our budget, near a Carrefour and an elementary school, and has trash service. However, it’s a bit farther from the MRT than we would like, and doesn’t have our ideal number of bedrooms and bathrooms. Maybe if we had a couple months to look, something better would have become available. That said we’re happy with it, and we’re ready to start settling in.
I hope that helps anyone else who is looking for a larger place!
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Nice summary and good luck in the new place.
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