More on "Life in the Philippines"-Rental Agent

The rental agent through whom I rented this apartment has been telling me she is in contact with the condo owner, an Australian, who insists on certain terms for the rental, which I found peculiar. She promised to clarify the issues and get back to me, but she never did.

Well, today I met the owner of the condo. He's an American (not an Australian) and until he arrived in Manila today he did not even know his unit had been rented out--he had authorized renting it, but didn't know it had happened. He had to ask ME how much my rent was. He was not asking for any of the unusual terms the rental agent had requested. One of them was that I would provide 11 post-dated checks to cover the rent from now through next year. Of course he found that as appalling as I did and said he would never do it. They had asked him for 5 years of post-dated checks, but instead he makes a payment each month. He was surprised to find out that he "insisted" that I pay the condo dues. He is paying those. He was surprised to find out that those dues are 2700 pesos per month, as he is paying only 2250 pesos.

Real Estate agents in the US don't have a high rating for honesty, but this woman we are dealing with here takes the cake.