Does anyone know what if any difference there is in renting an apartment yourself (i.e. having your name on the lease) vs subletting (i.e. not having your name on the lease)?

I was trying to figure out if China has any issue with you residing in a place whose lease you're not directly on, especially if some unsavory situation happens like me getting into a car accident. I just want to make sure it is perfectly legit to be registered in a household even if your name isn't directly on the lease. I'm sure people do it all the time, but I'm trying to understand what the actual law is.

Any documents or examples would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!
Matt

In 2006 in Beijing, if you were subletting, it was considered that you were being hosted by the person renting the apartment. Any payment you made was illegual (not that they cared). As such, your "host" had to go with you to the local police office to register you. If you were renting the apartment yourself, you had to provide the lease when registering...

Not sure how much of this is still valid and how much ever applied to Kunming... I'm really interested in the answer as I will have to consider which accomodation to choose shortly.

Yes, the only snag I can see is that you need to register you place of residence, and they will want to see some kind of rental agreement. That means the person you are subletting from will need to be your sponsor/host. The flip side is that they are legally responsible for you.

@tigertiger what does "legally responsible" mean? My concern in this context is that I get in some kind of car accident and they come after my roommate, who will have absolutely nothing to do with the situation.

Firstly, we have not established if your roomate WILL actually be classed as your sponsor. So far this is speculative.

A road accident is not criminal, however, if you do something that gets you deported, I can see how this could (speculative) affect your sponsor.

And aren't you supposed to have a copy of the landlor's prroof of ownership/? I think my landlord had to provide that when we went o the police station.

I think we only had to show a tenancy agreement, and a copy of the owners ID card.

From my understanding the landlord is responsible for all people registered at their place. The landlord is also supposed to make sure you register.

I think some police stations don't give a damn about tenancy agreements, when I went to register I just had my Chinese flatmate's (main tenant) name and ID number written on a piece of paper, nothing else.

@Heniu
It is possible you went to the wrong police station.
You need to register at a specific police station in your district. Not just your local police station. In every city I have lived, this is the case, and there is an office whose sole role it is to manage these records (including itinerant workers, I believe).

In my area of Kunming, there are two staff and even a dedicated counter for this.

In my last city, there was even a dedicated department.

The place where you live have 'management' and they should be able to tell you which police station to go to. They have an obligation to see that you are registered (it is their legal duty). The local street committee (part of the official Communist Party structure) should also be able to find out.

Don't expect the local cop shop to be up to speed, it is not their job.