/u/Loose-Interest-907 says a Shanghai apartment circuit kept failing for months, killed the fridge twice, left the room hot during a storm, and ended with a 2,000 RMB offer that did not even cover the spoiled-food claim.
This is a Reddit account, not a verified case report. But the panic is familiar: the repair is delayed, the evidence piles up, and the landlord suddenly wants the tenant to settle cheap.
The OP said the fridge, AC, and Wi-Fi all ran through one wall circuit. When it tripped, everything died. In March, the power cut out around midnight. Someone switched it back on, but according to the post, nobody inspected the circuit.
Then came the expensive part.
Around May 15-22, /u/Loose-Interest-907 says the same circuit died while they were away. The fridge stayed off for about a week. They claimed spoiled frozen beef, a homemade broth, other food, dust buildup, allergic reactions, and lost sleep.
This week, they said the AC stopped cooling around 1 a.m. They measured about 29C and heavy humidity for two hours. The backup room, they wrote, was barely cooler.
At 2 a.m., during a thunderstorm, they went to the nearest hotel. The bill was 699 RMB. The OP stressed they chose the cheapest available nearby room, not a luxury escape.
The line that carried the dispute was simple: "I have receipts." Later, when challenged by another Redditor, the OP pushed back: "i want whats mine."
The OP also said the police came, but told them they could not force payment in a private compensation fight. According to the post, the offer only moved after pressure was applied, and then stopped at 2,000 RMB.
That number is why the post felt explosive. /u/Loose-Interest-907 was asking for spoiled food, a few lost rent days, the 699 RMB hotel night, and a way out of the lease with the full deposit back.
The rent-invoice detail made it worse. The OP claimed the manager stalled on receipts for rent already paid, then finally sent invoices dated to the current day instead of the payment dates.
If that is accurate, it turns a broken-fridge story into something much bigger: repair, compensation, paperwork, trust, and whether the tenant can leave without losing the deposit.
Not everyone online was sympathetic.
/u/Speeder_mann told them to "Lawyer up." /u/beekeeny gave the same short answer: "Hire a lawyer." /u/Radiant_Pillar was more pessimistic, saying compensation for these problems can feel like "a dream."
That messy comment fight is the warning. Once a housing dispute turns emotional, the other side may argue about attitude, wording, or personality instead of the repair record.
The cleaner move is to make the case boring.
Under China's Civil Code, a lessor generally has the duty to maintain the leased object unless the contract says otherwise. If repair is needed, the tenant can request repair within a reasonable time.
If the landlord does not perform, the tenant may repair and seek reasonable costs. If the repair problem affects use of the place, rent reduction or a lease-term adjustment may be part of the discussion.
That does not mean every hotel bill, spoiled-food claim, or full deposit demand is automatically recoverable. It means each demand needs a document, receipt, timeline, written admission, or contract clause.
Shanghai's housing leasing rules also matter. Rental housing should have necessary living conditions such as water and electricity supply. A lease should cover facilities, maintenance responsibility, breach liability, and dispute resolution.
The same rules say lessors are responsible for safety of the leased unit and the facilities and equipment they provide. They also support mediation channels for housing-lease disputes.
If your housing fight is tied to a work exit, contract pressure, or deposit risk, keep this guide open too: Leaving Your Job? Read This First!!
Quick checks:
1. Make a dated timeline of every outage, repair request, reply, inspection, and offer. 2. Save the lease, rent invoices, deposit receipt, utility records, temperature videos, repair messages, and hotel invoice. 3. Ask in writing for a specific repair and a specific payment amount, with a deadline. 4. If the operator refuses, consider 12345, the housing leasing platform or district housing authority, mediation, and then court or a qualified lawyer.
The 12345 hotline can be useful for everyday disputes, rental regulation questions, utility failures, and routing. But it is not a magic court. Shanghai's own public guidance says 12345 does not handle lawsuits, arbitration, or administrative review.
For foreigners, the biggest mistake is waiting until the fight becomes a personality contest. Once the message thread turns into "you are difficult" or "you are spoiled," the evidence gets buried.
The OP may or may not recover the money they want. The hotel detail may help or hurt depending on the contract, the timing, the storm, the available alternatives, and the proof.
But one lesson is solid: if the apartment keeps failing, do not rely on anger. Build written admissions, dated evidence, a repair deadline, and a clean escalation path.
Source: Original Reddit post - https://www.reddit.com/r/chinalife/comments/1uslzij/4_months_of_a_shanghai_landlords_faulty_wiring