Although the city's real-estate agencies are competing heavily for clients, few of them take the trouble to prepare housing leases to cater to the Shenzhen's growing expatriate population.

American William Arrington found this out the hard way after signing a Chinese rental contract that he did not understand at all.

Arrington rented an apartment through the real-estate agency Centaline China - one of the biggest agencies of its kind in Shenzhen - five months ago. He signed his name on a Chinese contract, of which he only understood the numbers.

It was fine at first, because his Chinese roommate explained the contract to him. But when the roommate left, the troubles started.

When the housing management company came to collect maintenance fees, Arrington argued: "Isn't that included in the monthly rent"

"No, the contract says clearly that the maintenance fees are not included in the rent," he was told.

Arrington said he tried to get Centaline to prepare an English contract for him, but to no avail.

A consultant with Centaline surnamed Qi said the company did not have rental contracts in English. "Our foreign clients usually bring their Chinese friends along when signing the contracts," said Qi.

James Baquet, a teacher with Shenzhen Polytechnic, had an experience similar to Arrington's, although he was luckier because his landlord spoke English.

"My landlord is a lawyer who speaks good English, and he explains the contract terms to me. I had to rely on him, although I did not know if I should trust him," said Baquet. So he signed the contract, but added a line below his name: I CANNOT READ CHINESE.

Wang Xinle, a lawyer with Shentiancheng Law Firm, said Chinese law did not require bilingual copies for all contracts involving foreigners.

The Shenzhen Daily contacted four major real-estate agencies yesterday, and only the Shekou-based China Merchants Property said it had English contracts. The tenants can choose to sign contracts in English or Chinese or both, said Zhang Lan with the company's property Jingshan Villas.

Arrington suggested that the government make it a rule requiring all contracts involving foreigners to be bilingual.

Editor: Yan