Chapter 274 - 274 Renting
274 Renting
After walking around, Yu Bing and Xiao Sheng took a fancy to the two empty shops on the road. One was a house outside the sugar factory. Previously, the sugar factory had used it to store miscellaneous items in their factory.
The house wasn’t big, only 50 square meters, but it was just right for the office Yu Bing wanted to build. The offer price of the sugar factory was 15 yuan a month, and the deposit was three times the rent. Moreover, one had to pay 3 months’ rent in advance and a deposit of 1 month’s rent. In other words, the deposit was 45 yuan. Even time one paid the rent, one had to pay two months’ rent, which was 30 yuan.
The other house was at the entrance of an alley in the middle of Pure Bottle Road. It was the first house and the location was alright.
However, the landlord said that if they wanted to rent the shop in front, they had to rent the courtyard at the back as well. There were two rooms at the back of the courtyard, and the landlord’s family of six lived on the second floor.
They wanted to rent the entire first floor to earn a little more income. There were three rooms on the second floor, so it was enough for six people. The kitchen and bathroom were in the courtyard on the first floor, so they could share them together.
The shop in front was 60 square meters, and there were two rooms at the back. The big one was 20 square meters, and the small one was 15 square meters. However, the landlord didn’t ask for a high price. The area was twice the size of the sugar factory, but the monthly rent was only 25 yuan. The deposit was only two times the rent plus 50 yuan.
After the two of them finished asking around, they came to the main road to discuss. Xiao Sheng had his eyes on this private house with a courtyard. “When the workers in the factory come, we won’t have to rent an additional place for them to stay. The overall price is lower than that of the sugar factory. We can also keep an eye on the shop at night.”
Yu Bing didn’t think so. She had been in business for so many years after the reform and opening up, so she had a lot of experience in renting houses. She had been scammed quite often as well.
When renting a private house, the other party would calculate everything clearly. On the surface, it was more convenient to rent a shop and residence together, but that was only if the landlord didn’t live there. This wasn’t the case at all.
The kitchen and the bathroom in the courtyard were shared facilities. There were six of them, but the office needed at least two people working there. With eight people here, even going to the public restroom outside would be more convenient.
Even if they gave in to the tenants in the beginning, as time passed, even if they might not say anything, the more people there were, the more trouble.
It wasn’t that she thought the worst of people, but if there was a bottle of jam or a bag of snacks missing from the shop one day, would the employees be willing to compensate them? The first suspect would definitely be the landlord.
It might have been a curious customer or the sticky-fingered landlord, but once suspicion was planted, would the tenant and the landlord still be able to get along well?
Renting a place in the sugar factory was different. Renting public property meant that the rent would go to the factory.
Of course, at this time, most of the workers in the factory were very loyal to the factory. They wouldn’t harm the interests of the factory just because the money wouldn’t go to them. Because it was a fixed-income job, the interests of the employees were the same as those of the factory.
They might not be willing to lower the rent or deposit, but they had their own protocol. As long as there was a protocol, they were not afraid of being screwed. On the other hand, when it came to private houses, the landlord had the final say.
Although there was a contract, how many people would actually involve the law? It would be time-consuming and laborious to bring it to court, but if it reached the police station, the police would let the two parties reach a private settlement.
At the thought of this, Yu Bing glanced at Xiao Sheng and revealed a smile that he didn’t understand. “You’re inexperienced when it comes renting, since you’ve never been scammed in these circumstances. There are many details to pay attention to.”
With that, Yu Bing told him everything she had considered.
Xiao Sheng had never rented a house before. Even the black market’s office was negotiated with Brother Qiang. The transport team’s office was also settled by Zhou Qun and Zhang Chao. His task was to sign things and let the finance department to pay.
In Xiao Sheng’s impression, renting a house was a very simple matter, so he didn’t expect there to be so many twists and turns. He couldn’t help but look at Yu Bing with admiration.
Then, Xiao Sheng thought about it again. How did Yu Bing know so much? Hence, he asked curiously, “You’ve never rented a house before, so how do you know so much?”