If you would like to rent a property in Beijing here are some of the things you might need to know.

Location: As a foreigner, you might consider to live in the east or north east part of Beijing, since the majority of foreigners, embassies and international companies are located there. Furthermore, you need to consider the traffic condition and transportation in Beijing, as it is far different from western countries. If you choose to live in the urban areas in Beijing, you could consider having your own transportation. If you live alone or without children, it would be better to choose the downtown areas to live, since it is more convenient and cost efficient on transport. When you have children, you may consider living in the suburb areas near Capital Airport, since most of the international schools are located there and with a better environment a bit more peaceful and somewhat farther from the city.

Choosing a property with a well-managed community is also important. A well-managed community means better management services, safer environment and good living standards, which would be critical for you and your family. As for kids, they could enjoy a nicer environment where they could easily find their schoolmates and friends.
Apartment- a boom in development projects has been occurring over the past few years. Overseas Chinese and locals have rushed in to buy, then rent them out to foreigners with housing allowances. These apartments tend to be new, built within the last few years. They are spacious high rises with elevators and some have balconies. The apartments are sold “raw” and renovated by the buyer. Depending on the owner, some will have high quality fixtures and charming wooden floors, and some will have cheap tiles and flooring. If you like the complex, look at different apartment in the same building. The newer the building, the more likely you will have to deal with the noise of a neighbor renovating their interior. Some developments offer housekeeping, concierge service, and fitness facilities.
Villas- Most of Beijing’s Villas are located near Capital Airport, these are the luxury complexes that come fully furnished and equipped with a community center, health club and restaurants. They are usually gated communities in family-oriented locations and are closer to international schools than they are to nightlife and entertainment. Many have children’s facilities onsite; some provide shuttle bus services to major shopping areas.
Agreement and Lease Term: Typically, the tenancy agreement is in both Chinese and English, two original agreements are signed by the landlord and the tenant. Usually villas and apartments would be based on standard one or two-year contract, except for short-term service apartments. Most of the time, properties are owned by individual owners and each time when they lease the property to new tenant, they will need to make some changes to the property, such as repainting, check all electrical appliances or to provide some new furniture based on the tenant's requirements. Usually individual owners only accept one year or more contracts. The short-term lease is often only available with service apartments.
Rental and Deposit: Usually the rental includes management fee, heating fee, cable TV fee and clubhouse fee (if there is one). Other expenses like utility bill, Internet service charge and telephone bill are paid by the tenant. The deposit shall be prepared before the lease start and it normally equates to two months’ rent, therefore with a pay-in-advance monthly rent, you may need to prepare three months rent before you officially move in to the property. The deposit will be refunded to the tenant without any interest after the expiration of the lease contract and after the tenant has paid all related utility charges. A bank guarantee can serve as a deposit depending on the landlord.
Health club: facilities are included in most of Beijing’s compounds and apartment complexes, but still it is not everywhere, also, there are many different levels of quality and price. Usually the club membership of a developer compound or serviced apartment is included in the rental. But you need to always negotiate this if you go for a privately-owned property.
Furniture: In Beijing, most of the properties are rented out with furniture provided as well as electrical appliances, cable-TV connection, telephone connection and Internet connection. If you would like to bring your own furniture, most of the owners could accept to take away their existing furniture however it does not mean a discount on the rent since they may need to rent another storage place to keep the furniture. One good thing to mention for those newly built compounds is that the landlord may accept to give a furniture allowance for the tenant to choose their preferred furniture or the landlord could rent out their property without furniture needed to buy if the tenant already has furniture and therefore reflect to a slightly lower rental.

Furniture will normally include sofa, chairs, coffee tables, end tables, lamps, television set, TV stand and dining table with chairs, beds, dresser, clothes cabinet and basic kitchen appliances, such as refrigerators, washer machines, microwave oven, etc.
Kitchenware such as pots and pans, cutlery, crockery, towels and bedding are generally only provided in serviced apartments. If you plann to move in to the new home directly upon your arrival here in Beijing, please make sure these things are arranged before your arrival. Waveland Realty Relocation Service may even assist you to prepare these things before your arrival.
Cable or Satellite TV: Most buildings are already hooked up to the cable system, giving you basic Chinese channels. Newer and foreign compounds will have international channels like CNN, BBC, HBO, ESPN, AXN, Cinema, CNBC, Discovery, Star Movies, Star World, TV5, DWRAI, and other channels in English, Japanese, French, Spanish, Italian, and German via satellite TV. Individual satellite dishes are not legal, but are routinely sold and installed.
Household Appliances: Washers and dryers—Beijing sells two kinds: Separate units where one machine is for and one for drying, or combination machines, popular in Europe, that will wash and dry in one unit. Combination machines are space efficient if that is a consideration. But they do take about twice as much time. Negotiate with your landlord to supply them even when renting an unfurnished apartment. There are some local makes available, although most house owners supply the American type of machines, so if you would rather have a European model make sure that you negotiate this with the landlord.
INTERNET SERVICE: Subscriptions are available through CNC in most of the city's residential buildings and commercial areas. There is a set-up time at around 10days, and customer could choose their favorable packages referring to the usage and speed. Normally we suggest our client to choose ADSL connection at RMB120/month(512k),RMB138/month
(1G),RMB168/month(2G) and RMB258/month(4G) for unlimited access.
Pets: If you need to bring a pet into China, you need a health certificate provided by the National Quarantine Department of your pet's home country and a vaccination certificate that includes hydrophobia (rabies). The certificates should not be issued more than 30 days old. The health certificate should include the weight, height and length of your pet. You'll also need your passport, air ticket, work permit documents, close-up photos of your beloved and a letter from the management office of where you reside in Beijing that certifying the pet is allowed. You need to pay quarantine, examination and residence fees at the Department of Plants and Animals of Airport. And of course if you would like to own a pet while you are here in Beijing, example a dog or cat or even bird or fish, you could always find them at some local pets market.
MAID (AYI) SERVICE: In a foreign country, nothing is more comfy than having a good maid that could help you on housekeeping and childcare. There are good maid/ayi house keeping companies in Beijing that could even provide you English-speaking maid. Or you could get advice from your house agent, management office or neighbors for local ayi who normally lives nearby. The salary could be different by the time duration and workload as well as English speaking or Chinese speaking. The standard salary would be around RMB1,800-2,500 for full time, RMB20 per hour for part time or RMB50 for half day. Most of the maids speak in Chinese but they could understand for the basic instructions in English and if you are lucky, they might be able to help you for delicious Chinese cooking as well, Waveland Realty will help you to find good Ayi if you need it.
CAR LEASE SERVICE: There are short-term and long-term car lease services available in Beijing. Some leasing company may also have services for buying or selling used cars. There are many varieties of cars available in the market, e.g. AUDI, BUICK, PASSAT and BENZ etc. The lease rate is around RMB200 to RMB350 per day or RMB4000 to RMB8000 per month, subject to driver and fuel charges. Getting more information and detail.
Please check our Website: www.wavelandrealty.com (useful link )
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS & KINDERGARTENS: As a foreign family in Beijing, you might need to know something about the education. No matter which country you are from, we believe you can find the suitable international schools or kindergartens here for your kids. In Beijing, there are at least twenty international schools and kindergartens which are made up of the American School, German School, Japanese School, The French School, Swedish School, Australia International School, The British School, Canadian School and so on. We also would like to provide you the service to evaluate the schools in advance. Getting more information and details, please check our website: www.wavelandrealty.com.(Useful link)