that draft contract sounds absolutely unreasonable and you should not sign it. I would not even bother wasting time trying to negotiate through the fine print of those 16 pages. Sorry to say that you will have to put your foot down with the landlord/landlady.
We went through an estage agent (Midlands) and used a 4-page standard form contract. It is reasonably balanced. I believe the big estate agencies like Midlands and Centaline use it, so try to get hold of a copy and convince your landlord/landlady to use that instead.
I am an inhouse lawyer and recently reviewed our office commercial lease. It was pretty much the situation that you described and I was outraged too. I was told that the totally one-sided contract (favouring landlords) is very common in HK simply because of their bargaining power. Because our company is the largest tenant in our building we were able to hold out on the more important clauses. Still, it took a few months and several rounds of negotiations. I was incredulous at some of the flimsy excuses that the landlord gave for avoiding legal responsibility for the simplest things, like keeping the building free of pests.
But back to your situation - don't sign that document because when things go wrong, you can be sure your landlord will hold you to it.
Good luck.
We went through an estage agent (Midlands) and used a 4-page standard form contract. It is reasonably balanced. I believe the big estate agencies like Midlands and Centaline use it, so try to get hold of a copy and convince your landlord/landlady to use that instead.
I am an inhouse lawyer and recently reviewed our office commercial lease. It was pretty much the situation that you described and I was outraged too. I was told that the totally one-sided contract (favouring landlords) is very common in HK simply because of their bargaining power. Because our company is the largest tenant in our building we were able to hold out on the more important clauses. Still, it took a few months and several rounds of negotiations. I was incredulous at some of the flimsy excuses that the landlord gave for avoiding legal responsibility for the simplest things, like keeping the building free of pests.
But back to your situation - don't sign that document because when things go wrong, you can be sure your landlord will hold you to it.
Good luck.
. It`s the other 25% that I refuse to commit to, like us being responsible if things go wrong in a flat that has not been updated in the 12 years it`s existed. And if the owner wants us to do some work on it, we have to oblige `without delay`. What springs to mind is the old early 1980`s Tom Hank, The Money Pit, where he and his new bride buy a seemingly beautiful home but as soon as they move in it falls apart bit by bit. Except we just want to live there quietly with our baby for a year or 2. Sheeeeeeesh.
, but if they budge on a few important details like our not being responsible for structural repairs (windows and pipes) unless it`s clearly as a result of our misuse(like I throw a rock through the window), and also adding an additional clause clearing us of responsibility if rainwater causes damage to the apartment (being the top floor), then we might be in business. We`ll see and I will keep my fingers crossed. I already have mail coming to that flat