About: Mongolia, Property Leasing, Real Estate, Renting, Ulaanbaatar
Renting an apartment in UB can often be a daunting task, where to turn? Who to trust? Where to live?
Renting is a new and novel concept for most Mongolians. They themselves rarely rent apartments as they often rely on family and friends to house them, this leaves only the relatively small expat market and a few Mongolian students as potential tenants.
How to find an apartment to rent?
If you are looking for an apartment to rent, take a deep breath and get ready for a busy few days of apartment hunting and frustrating negotiations.
With a new market, usually follows a service sector to help it grow, while there are now a growing number of real estate agencies in Ulaanbaatar, few have any experience in the business and even fewer can represent and help expats adequately. Mongolian Properties is one of the few that can deal with inquiries but generally they deal with higher end properties. Mongolian Real Estate, owned by Pedro specialises in cheaper properties. As both have expat staff on hand they usually offer a slightly better service. M.A.D. Relocations specialises in corporate relocations in Ulaanbaatar and offer a wide range of packages for expats moving to Mongolia. I have posted the links to most real estate agencies at the end of this post for your information.
The most popular option is still to read the classifieds in the UB Post and the Mongol Messenger as well as talk about your needs to friends and colleagues. Another good idea is to go round all the places that cater to expats in Ulaanbaatar such as Cafe Amsterdam, Sub’baatar Sandwiches, the French Bistrot, Chez Bernard etc…. as they often have rental notices on their boards.
How much should I expect to pay?
The choice in UB is always limited and prices will surprise you.
A 1 bedroom apartment rental within Ulaanbaatar city center usually starts at around 350USD, and goes up to 500USD. Outside of the immediate area of the city center, rental prices drop significantly.
2 bedroom apartments start from 500 to 600USD and go up to 1,200USD depending on location and quality of the building as well as furniture and fittings.
High end properties, rental prices go from 3,000USD to as high up as 10,000USD . The larger luxury apartments and houses are generally located to the south of Ulaanbaatar towards Zaizan but new developments in the city center will soon make it possible to live in a large luxury apartment within the heart of the city. There are some luxury apartments in the city center within the older building that are proving increasingly popular with the young executive expats.
It is expected that, as demand increases, rental prices will continue increasing.
What else should I know?
While the written contract is only now starting to have some significance in Mongolia it is better to be over -cautious with the contract you sign and make sure it includes every eventuality, always plan for the worst.
Check the conditions of your security deposit. How and when can you get it back?
Make sure that an extensive inventory is made and that it accurately describes the conditions of everything in the apartment, this is one of the biggest problems that is a regular downfall for foreign tenants and the highest cause of loss of your security deposit.
Check that the conditions of the paints, floors, walls, ceilings and fittings are described in details in the inventory.
When you move in, take pictures of everything in the apartment. If you can, print them and have them signed by the Landlord or its representative.
Make sure the contract describes in detail what your responsibilities are as a tenant and what the landlord’s responsibilities are, who will do the repairs? Who will arrange bill payments? Who will organise internet, T.V. and phone connections?
Who is paying the utilities? Make sure this is clearly stated in your contract; list all the utilities, how about internet and telephone? How about building security and maintenance? Who pays? On the day you move in, the landlord should be able to prove to you that he has paid all utilities up to that day.
Is the apartment insured? Did the landlord take an insurance to protect your belongings? If not, do you have one? What happens in case of a fire or flood damage? Is the apartment equipped in fire safety equipment?
What if you are late in paying your rent? What are the penalties? Are they clearly set out in the contract?
What are your get-out clauses? How much notice do you need to give? What constitutes a breach of contract? Can the landlord evict you from the apartment at very short notice?
For every payment you give, make sure that the landlord signs a receipt for it.
Check that your landlord is the real owner of the property you are renting; ask to see his immovable property certificate with his name on it.
Never hand over your passport or any other important document to the Landlord without your supervision.
The contract has to be done in Mongolia to be valid, if done in both English and Mongolian the Mongolian version will prevail. Get any Mongolian speaking friends you can find to read and verify the contract. If the contract is done both in English and Mongolian it should come with a certificate that both versions are the same and were translated by a certified translator.
Sign your contract in a notary’s office, this makes it legally binding. You may have to pay 20,000Tgs in Notary fees but you will be glad later if you end up in a dispute. While Mongolian properties law are good, they tend to protect the landlord with very few if any provisions for the rights of tenants.
How do I communicate with my Landlord?
Most Mongolian landlords speak little or no English, if you can communicate directly with your landlord, this is always a plus, if not, make sure your agent is available to act as a go-between. Communication problems between Mongolian landlords and Expat tenants is one of the highest causes of “property stress” and ruins otherwise good rental opportunities. Before you move into the apartment, always get a good feel for your landlord, see if they are happy to help and reasonable as to their expectations.
Other posts about Property that may be of interest to you:
How to…. Buy Property in Mongolia
The Mongolian Property Boom V2.0
List of Real Estate Agencies operating in Mongolia
- M.A.D. Property Investments & Corporate Relocation
- The Real Estate Company (Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia)
- Mongolian Properties
- Mongolian Real Estate
- Richmond Road Properties
- Master Properties
- Mongol Leasing (deals only in Bodi Owned Properties)
- Realtor Properties
- Sakura Properties
- Uils Properties
- Torgon Zuuch
- UB Zuuch
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Please Note: This article is written in good faith and is intended to be a helpful tool, the author makes no guarantees as to its accuracy nor takes responsibility if the process this information relates to has changed. It is always advisable that you do your own research and find various sources of information, in particular pertaining to laws and regulations.
If you have recently gone through this process yourself and would like to add or comment to the text above, please contact me so that I may make the necessary changes.
About: Mongolia, Property Leasing, Real Estate, Renting, Ulaanbaatar
