Important things to look for when renting an apartment of house....

Renting is pretty easy, but with reservations.

1 - make sure the place is sound, checking the roof timbers for termites where possible.

2 - Try to visit a potential property when it's raining so you can see if the roof leaks

3 - Use agents sites to get ideas, but try to contact owners directly as that will likely get you a better price.

4 - A lot ask for 2 year contracts, but most will chop to a year if you ask.

More later

Most property owners assume the tenant will pay for any damage or repairs that need doing whilst you are there, regardless of who caused the issue.
Confirm this is the case and argue your point before you pay up.

These are the things I need to know thanks, Fred.  I may be renting a place this year but will look at what's available sometime next month.  What about power, I see on rentals adds power at different levels so not sure which level I should look for.

Try and get a top up meter so you can control the burn! Electricity levels are set by the power company and if you want to change it up or down you would need to return the level to its original when you leave and also pay for the change.
Also check the breakers so that they don't trip if an AC is running with the rice cooker, iron, hair tongs as normally the breakers are very low.

With water if you have piped access then check the pressure and the tank where the water is stored. Hope that the water is clean and does not smell obviously remembering not to drink it. If the water is direct from a ground well then ask about how deep the pipes to it run and also about the dry season and if the well will run dry. On the flip side you don't pay any water fees.

Don't forget you will need to pay for rubbish collection and security maybe as well as making friends with the local community by joining in with paying for random things like bags of cement or brushes and things.

Check also where gas and water can found and if they deliver.

The higher the wattage available, the more you pay for all.
If you never run high power stuff, lower wattage is fine, but you'll need more if you try to run the AC, microwave and rice cooker at the same time.

More here

https://www.expat.com/forum/viewtopic.p … 05#1983201

Oh ok got it.  i see there are many things to look out for.  Thanks guys.  I will decide by Summer how to proceed.