After the original landlord handed over full control of the property to the agency, these agents, in order to gain the trust of tenants, often signed rental contracts pretending to be the landlord. In the two years just before he graduated, Ma Ming naively believed these landlords were the actual property owners. Only later did he find out that these landlords were, in fact, the agents.
If one happened to encounter a real landlord, it was fine, but the chances of that were incredibly small, only about ten to twenty percent. The "landlord direct rental" information seen on the streets or online was usually posted by agents. And these agents had a habit of swallowing security deposits or unjustly deducting rent.
For instance, now that his one-year rental contract was up, the sub-landlord should have returned his 2,000 yuan security deposit. But this sub-landlord came up with all sorts of excuses to refuse the refund.
