Anyone considering renting in Dali be very careful.
There is a trend of Dali landlords renting their properties out, waiting for the poor hapless tenant to redecorate and then kicking them out. Or increasing the rent to such an extent that the tenants are forced to leave, still on contract. One building on Renmin Lu had their rent increased from 23,000 per year to 120,000 per year.
Having a legal contract doesn't make any difference,as most would know. Doesn't even make good toilet paper.
This has been going on for the four years I have lived here, but now seems to be at an increased level with the sniff of money in the water.
This has just happened to me and quite a few others in the last few months.
My rent was increased by 5,000 Yuan a year after only 9 months. If I didn't pay I was told I would be kicked out. Now they are kicking me out anyway.
I have spent quite a bit of money on renovating the property and don't feel like lying down and taking it.
But what to do ?
A long protracted legal case isn't really my style, but it may come to that.
The thought of starting a website to shame the landlords in question is another option.
Anyone with any thoughts on the matter or any similar stories would be much appreciated.
Horse.

Oh it's not only in Dali. Same stuff happens in Kunming on a regular basis, landlords as well as roommates not obeying their contracts' stipulations. It's sad really, but the police I hear are even unable to mediate. All you can do is take it to court.

In China contracts are useless especially and more so if you're a laowai. They think we're made of money. They laugh at us and at times it makes you want to go postal. Like the foreigner on the bus who was laughed at by the bus driver. My advice to you is don't bother fixing any apartment you rent. You need to BUY and then you can do whatever you want. My wife and I were renting an apartment for a year and still had a month left. The landlord said he was selling the apartment and we had to move. Fortunately we were able to find something in just a week and moved. Soon after that we bought a small studio apartment. Nothing, I mean nothing is more frustrating then to constantly move. If you own then you know 'the rent' can't go up just like that. You've been here for 4 years so it may be time to consider buying a small apartment too. Good Luck!

Thanks for that, nice to be heard.
I'm sure the same all over China.
It's good being a laowai. We just put a one cent coin in the ground, water it, give it some care and attention and hey presto a money tree. Easy !
Unfortunately buying isn't in my budget. my money tree is just a small shrub at the moment.

My girlfriend has a guest house in Dali. She was just given three days notice that the landlord was ripping the roof off and rebuilding. The guest house was full for the next couple of months so she has had to cancel all the bookings at quite a conciderable cost. Now the rent is going up to an as yet undisclosed amount.

I think a shame the landlord website might be the go. At least the tenants can get some revenge.
Anyway, see what happens.
Horse.

Exactly what you have described just happened to our former (Chinese couple) flatmates.

The owner gives them cheap rent for 3 years as long as they decorate (at the start of last year). They decorate and get in flatmates to cover their costs. Just over a year later, the owner says that they have to leave, fuck what the contract says, they want them out. And they aren't going to pay for any of the renovation costs.

After threatening them with a lawyer friend of theirs, they finally caved and said they would pay the renovation costs but they still had to move out. Of course not everyone knows a lawyer or is in a position to settle.

Hang on a second, wasn't one of the reasons Mao's revolution was so successful due to greedy land owners? Hmmm... are we seeing history repeat itself? This time not with land but landlords?

Yeah, landlords are blankety blankety blank.

But seriously, don't you think you're partially at fault for investing money renovating a place that doesn't belong to you and belongs to someone you barely know?

Maybe you should learn to stop trusting people so you don't find yourself in these situations?

I think no one should ever invest in any furniture let alone renovations for any of these apartments. Because there's a high probability of disputes and being cheated.

And if you don't have a heaping pile of furniture, moving on a moment's notice really isn't such a big deal.

Ridiculous abcdabcd, if you have a contract that states living arrangements for a number of years that both parties have agreed to, then one party goes back on the terms of that contract, it is by no way the other parties fault. To suggest so is ridiculous. If this is happening more and more, not just isolated cases, then it becomes an important social issue where the rich are taking advantage of the poor. Engage your brain before posting please and/or stop trolling.

Every time someone posts something that goes against the majority, they're "trolling". What a joke. What a bunch of arrogant laowai who don't like people challenging anything they say.

Yeah, ok. So we've all established that contracts are useless. And some people have learned the hard way.

So what are you advising, blobbles, in your infinite wisdom? To invest money renovating in these apartments and risk getting screwed? muahahhahahahahhaha.

Yeah, sure, if you want to fight the corrupt system, knock yourself out. I'm all for that. Take the guy to court and make an example out of him so other landlords will be more cautious.

But if you put yourself in a situation where you're vulnerable to the corrupt elements of the system, then you're an idiot.

I mean, ok. This guy didn't know in advance. But anyone reading this thread now knows. And if you make the same mistake, you're an idiot. And you get what you deserve. Plain and simple.

Do people think Scum Landlords of Dali or indeed any title containing the word Scum is appropriate for a forum on this website? Landlords in any country don't evoke my sympathy but foreigners using this sort of language about Chinese people might be interpreted as racism. I don't think it's helpful. And let's also remember rents in Dali are rising from a very low base. In 2007 a huge bar on Renmin Lu could be had for 1000 RMB a month which is frankly absurdly low.

No, trolling is deliberately posting something inflammatory in order to provoke a response and maybe I fell for it. Blaming victims for the actions of perpetrators when a thread was started by a victim could easily be considered trolling and you seem to do it a lot.

Every legal and social system works on the basis of contracts. Doing nothing about people abusing living contracts leads to a situation where we are all abused by greedy landlords. Once landlords can get away with breaching this type of contract, what's stopping them from terminating your normal rent contract next week or demanding you pay triple the rent you now pay on a whim? If contracts become altogether irrelevant that will be the reality and calling people idiots because they try to stand up for breach of a contract signed in good faith, is rather inflammatory.

I have already stated that parties who have access to legal counsel can fight and win against people who breach contracts. Those who are not so lucky however are abused. Standing up for abusers by calling generally poorer and less connected people idiots is pretty harsh.