Co-living guides
Finding a room in Taipei without Chinese: how to use 591, what the listing terms mean, and other ways to search
591, Taiwan's rental listing site, is in Chinese. This guide puts its search filters and listing terms (雅房, 分租套房, 押金, 最短租期, 屋主直租) into plain-English tables, with a Chinese message you can send a landlord, what to ask at a viewing, ways to search outside 591, and the 165 anti-fraud advice to remember before you transfer money.
Seal Co-living team Updated 16 min read Translated from Chinese · 中文原文
On this page
- What is 591, and can you use it without Chinese?
- How do you set the filters on 591?
- How do you read the Chinese on a listing page?
- What is the difference between an owner, a representative and an agent?
- How do you contact the landlord?
- What should you ask at a viewing?
- What if the landlord only signs for one year, or will not rent to foreigners?
- What are the options besides 591?
- Anti-fraud reminders before a viewing and before you transfer money
- Frequently asked questions
- Sources
You can find a room in Taipei without much Chinese. Every listing page on 591 has the same layout and the same fixed fields, so once you recognise about thirty words you can filter and judge listings yourself, and a translation tool covers the rest. Where people really get stuck is a landlord who wants a one-year lease, or one who says no as soon as they hear you are a foreigner. When that happens, searching somewhere else usually solves it.
The whole process goes in this order.
- Decide your budget, how long you will stay, and whether you need your own bathroom.
- On 591, filter with 「類型」 (type), 「租金」 (rent) and 「按捷運」 (by MRT). If you plan to stay less than one year, open the extra options and tick 「可短期租賃」 (short-term rental possible).
- On the listing page, look first at 「最短租期」 (minimum lease), 「身份要求」 (tenant preference) and 「押金」 (deposit), then check whether it was posted by the owner, a representative or an agent.
- Contact them with a short message in Chinese and arrange a viewing.
- See the room in person, take the contract away to read, and pay the deposit only at signing.
- If you are stuck on a one-year lease or on communication, change channel. A Japanese- or English-speaking agent, co-living and monthly furnished places are the usual alternatives.
We have already covered agent fees, deposits, contract language and the address for your ARC (Alien Resident Certificate) in Common sticking points for foreigners renting in Taipei: agent's fees, deposits, lease language, ARC address registration, and how Seal Co-living handles them. Guarantors and how to read the contract clauses are in Renting in Taiwan without a guarantor: how to read a Chinese lease clause by clause. This article sticks to how to search, how to read what you find and how to ask.
What is 591, and can you use it without Chinese?
591 Rent is a rental listing platform in Taiwan where owners, representatives and agents can all post. The interface is in Chinese, and we found no language switch on either the list page or the listing pages.
The easiest approach is to open the web version in a computer or phone browser and use the browser's built-in translation. Translation tends to mangle room types that only exist in Taiwan, such as 「雅房」 and 「套房」, and the tables below are there to fill that gap. 591 also has an app called 「591房屋交易」 for both iPhone and Android. Its official page lists search by area, by map and by nearby location, and says you can tell whether a listing comes from an owner or an agent. Browser translation does not work inside the app, so the web version is smoother while your Chinese is still shaky.
How do you set the filters on 591?
A row of filters runs across the top of the list page. At the bottom is 「展開選項」 (expand options). Click it to see the rows for features, building type, equipment and notes, which is where 「可短期租賃」 is hiding.
| On 591 | Options inside | Meaning and how to use it |
|---|---|---|
| 位置 (location) | 按鄉鎮, 按捷運, 按學校, 按商圈 (by district, MRT, school, shopping area) | 「按捷運」 lets you pick an MRT line and station directly. 「按學校」 lists National Taiwan University, National Taiwan Normal University and other schools |
| 類型 (type) | 整層住家, 獨立套房, 分租套房, 雅房 | The most important filter. The next table explains how the room types differ |
| 租金 (rent) | Several price ranges, or type your own | This is monthly rent in New Taiwan dollars |
| 租金含 (rent includes) | 管理費, 水費, 電費, 網路費, 第四台, 瓦斯費, 清潔費 (management fee, water, electricity, internet, cable TV, gas, cleaning) | Keeps only listings whose rent already covers these. 第四台 is cable TV |
| 特色 (features) | 新上架, 近捷運, 可養寵物, 可開伙, 有車位, 有電梯, 有陽台, 可短期租賃 (newly listed, near MRT, pets allowed, cooking allowed, parking, lift, balcony, short-term possible) | 可開伙 means you may cook in the unit. Tick 可短期租賃 if you will stay less than one year |
| 型態 (building type) | 公寓, 電梯大樓, 透天厝, 別墅 (walk-up flat, building with lift, townhouse, villa) | 公寓 usually means an older block without a lift. Choose 電梯大樓 if stairs are a problem |
| 設備 (equipment) | 有冷氣, 有洗衣機, 有冰箱, 有熱水器, 有天然瓦斯, 有網路, 床 (air conditioning, washing machine, fridge, water heater, piped gas, internet, bed) | If you do not want to buy furniture and appliances, tick 床 (bed) and 有冷氣 (air conditioning) |
| 須知 (notes) | 男女皆可, 限男生, 限女生, 排除頂樓加蓋 (any gender, men only, women only, exclude rooftop add-ons) | 頂樓加蓋 is a room built on top of the roof later, and it is usually very hot in summer |
Below the filters is a row of tags you can tick directly: 屋主直租, 免服務費, 免押金, 押一付一, 租金補貼, 可報稅, 可入籍 and 影片賞屋. For a foreigner who has just arrived, the first pair helps most. 屋主直租 means the owner posted the listing without an agent, and 免服務費 means no service fee is charged when you sign. 押一付一 means a deposit of one month, with rent paid one month at a time. 租金補貼, 可報稅 and 可入籍 relate to Taiwan's rent subsidy, tax filing and household registration, and people on a short stay rarely need them.
You can sort by 預設排序 (default), 最新 (newest), 預估總費用 (estimated total cost), 租金 (rent) or 坪數 (size). On a tight budget, sort by 「預估總費用」 and listings with high extra charges such as management fees drop down the list by themselves.
If you have not settled on an area yet, read Where to live in Taipei: choosing an area by commute, MRT line and night-time safety first, then come back and filter with 「按捷運」.
How do you read the Chinese on a listing page?
Every listing uses the same layout. From top to bottom you get photos, rent and deposit, location and surroundings, rental conditions, equipment and furniture, the owner's description, property details and contact options. Once you know the words below, you can read most of the page.
| Chinese | Meaning | What to watch for |
|---|---|---|
| 雅房 | A room with shared bathroom: your own room, with a bathroom shared with others | The cheapest kind of private room. Ask how many people share each bathroom |
| 分租套房 | An en-suite room in a shared flat, inside the same unit as other tenants | The front door, the hallway and sometimes the washing machine are shared |
| 獨立套房 | A self-contained studio with its own front door and bathroom | Many have no kitchen, so check the 「開伙」 field |
| 整層住家 | A whole flat, with a living room and several bedrooms | Worth a look only when several people rent together |
| 坪 | A unit of area; one ping is roughly two tatami mats | For 雅房 and 套房 the figure is usually the size of the room itself |
| 押金 | The deposit you hand the landlord at signing and get back when you move out | Pages often say 「二個月」, and the legal cap is also 2 months' rent |
| 管理費 | The building's monthly fee for shared upkeep | If it is not listed as part of the rent, add it on top |
| 租金含 | What the monthly rent already covers | Water, electricity and internet that are not listed are yours to pay |
| 另有額外費用, 總支出試算 | What you pay each month beyond the rent; click to see the breakdown | Use this figure when you compare two places |
| 最短租期 | The shortest lease the landlord will sign | A landlord who writes 「一年」 (one year) will rarely consider a short stay |
| 身份要求 | The kind of tenant the landlord prefers, for example students, office workers or families | It is a preference, so you can still ask |
| 開伙 | Whether you may cook in the unit, shown as 可開伙 or 不可開伙 | Filter on this first if you want to cook |
| 提供設備/家具 | Fridge, washing machine, air conditioning, water heater, bed, wardrobe, internet and so on | Items that are not highlighted are not provided |
| 拎包入住 | Fully furnished and equipped, so you can move in with just your bags | Check it against the equipment list anyway |
| 屋主直租 | Posted by the owner | No agent is involved, so there is usually no service fee |
| 收服務費, 免服務費 | Whether you pay an agent a service fee when you sign | Check before you make contact |
| 仲介勿擾 | A note from the owner asking agents not to call | Tenants can ignore it |
At the very bottom of the page, 591 adds a warning of its own: a poster who asks for a booking fee first, on the grounds that a viewing is inconvenient or the place is in demand, is running a scam. Next to it is a 「檢舉此房屋」 (report this listing) button.
For typical prices and who each room type suits, Co-living, en-suite room, room with shared bathroom or monthly rental apartment? Comparing places to live in Taipei for foreigners has the full comparison.
What is the difference between an owner, a representative and an agent?
The listing page shows who posted it. On the list, under each listing, you also see labels such as 「屋主某先生」 (owner, Mr So-and-so), 「代理人某小姐」 (representative, Ms So-and-so) or 「仲介某先生」 (agent, Mr So-and-so).
屋主 is the owner of the property. 代理人 is someone handling the rental on the owner's behalf. 仲介 is a staff member of a real estate brokerage, and the listing page also names the brokerage. If it says 「收服務費」, you pay a service fee when you sign. We explained the cap on that fee in Common sticking points for foreigners renting in Taipei: agent's fees, deposits, lease language, ARC address registration, and how Seal Co-living handles them.
Renting directly from an owner saves you the service fee, and you handle all the communication yourself. An agent costs more, and in return someone arranges viewings and explains the contract. Among the listings we looked at, one agent's description said in both Japanese and English that they can serve tenants in either language.
Whoever you are dealing with, confirm before signing that they have the right to rent the place out. The Ministry of the Interior's mandatory provisions for residential leases say the landlord must show the tenant proof of the right to rent out the property, together with proof of identity, for checking. 591's tenant handbook also suggests asking the landlord for the latest house tax bill and ID card to see whether they are the owner in person. If the other party is a subleasing or property management company, you can look up its registration by company name or unified business number in the Ministry of the Interior's real estate service industry information system.
How do you contact the landlord?
Contact options sit on the right of the listing page and at the bottom. We saw 「打電話」 (call), 「LINE聯絡」 (contact on LINE) and a message box labelled 「向屋主提問」 (ask the owner), where you type and press 送出 (send). Each listing opens different options, and some give only a phone number.
If phone calls scare you, start in writing. One poster wrote in the description that on-site messages are easy to miss and asked people to add them on LINE or call, so when LINE is offered, use LINE. Keep the message short and cover what the other side cares about most in one go: who you are, how long you will stay and when you can view. You can copy the text below and change only the parts in brackets.
您好，我在網站上看到這間房間（貼上物件網址）。我是外國人，會簡單的中文，預計住六個月，（月份）開始。請問可以租給外國人嗎？最短租期可以談嗎？如果可以，想約時間看房，謝謝。
(Meaning: Hello, I saw this room on the site [paste the listing link]. I am a foreigner and speak simple Chinese. I plan to stay six months, starting in [month]. Can you rent to a foreigner? Is the minimum lease negotiable? If so, I would like to arrange a viewing. Thank you.)
Saying up front that you are a foreigner and how long you will stay means anyone who would refuse does so straight away, which saves you a wasted trip. If a long reply in Chinese comes back, paste it into a translation tool. Ask them to send the agreed time, address and amount in writing again, and keep it as a record.
When a call is unavoidable, these lines are enough to open with: 「我在 591 看到你的房子」 (I saw your place on the site), 「請問還有嗎」 (is it still available?) and 「我中文不好，可以加 LINE 嗎」 (my Chinese is not good, may I add you on LINE?).
What should you ask at a viewing?
Light, noise and water pressure in the shower only show up in person. Anything about money and the contract is best asked in one go at the viewing.
- What is the shortest lease? How is leaving early calculated?
- How many months is the deposit? Is it paid at signing?
- What does the rent include? Is electricity paid from the bill, or at a per-unit rate the landlord sets?
- How is rubbish handled? Do I meet the rubbish truck myself, or does the building collect it?
- May I take the contract away for a few days? Is there an English version?
- I need to apply for an ARC. Can the lease be used as proof of address?
If you cannot say these in Chinese, save them on your phone and show the screen. How do you take out the garbage in Taipei? Truck times, official bags, recycling and food waste explains why rubbish deserves its own question. A fuller checklist is in Choosing a Share House in Taipei: 10 Things to Check Before You Move In.
A contract in Chinese is no reason to panic. The Department of Land Administration at the Ministry of the Interior publishes an English translation of the sample residential lease (2020 Sample Rental Housing Contract). Put it next to the landlord's contract to see roughly what each clause says. The mandatory provisions also set a contract review period of at least 3 days, so taking it home to look things up is your right. How to read the clauses is covered in Renting in Taiwan without a guarantor: how to read a Chinese lease clause by clause.
What if the landlord only signs for one year, or will not rent to foreigners?
The 「最短租期」 and 「身份要求」 fields are filled in by the poster, and plenty of people simply pick one year. So it is worth asking even when a listing says one year, as long as you are ready to hear no. Landlords usually worry about practical things. They may not share a language with you, or they fear you will leave soon and they will have to find someone again. Stating your length of stay and that you speak simple Chinese in the first message improves your chances.
After a few refusals, a different route is quicker.
- Go back to the filters and tick 「可短期租賃」, or look for listings tagged 「可短租」 on the list.
- Find an agent who speaks Japanese or English and ask them to check with the landlord first whether a foreign tenant is acceptable.
- For a stay within one year, go straight to co-living and monthly furnished places, which take shorter stays by design.
One line is worth knowing. Article 4 of the Rental Housing Market Development and Regulation Act says the Act does not apply to a lease of less than thirty days, so protections such as the deposit cap only cover a residential lease of at least thirty days. When you search for a short-term rental in Taiwan, thirty days is an easy threshold to remember. For working holiday makers planning a first home, Finding a place on a Taiwan working holiday: before you fly, your first home and avoiding deposit scams sets it out in time order.
What are the options besides 591?
If nothing on 591 fits, or you get stuck at the contact stage, these routes remain. Each suits a different kind of person.
| Channel | What it is | Who it suits | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Japanese- or English-speaking agents and room-finding services | They find listings, book viewings and go with you to sign | People staying around one year, wanting an ordinary 套房 or a whole flat, who would rather not negotiate in Chinese | A service fee applies. Ask the amount and how far the service goes |
| Japanese-language bulletin boards | Boards where Japanese residents of Taiwan post rooms to hand over and look for flatmates | People who want to take over another Japanese tenant's room and feel safer dealing in Japanese | It is person to person, with no platform checking who the other party is |
| Facebook rental groups | Landlords, subletting tenants and tenants post for themselves | People who can manage in Chinese or English and want a room in a shared flat | The rental scam case published by 165 began with a post in a Facebook group |
| Co-living (share house) | Furnished shared housing run by an operator | People staying a few months who want to meet housemates and not buy furniture | Room types, rules for shared spaces and fee items vary a lot between operators |
| Monthly furnished places | Furnished 套房 or apartments let by the month | People on a short stay who still want a complete space of their own | Prices and contract forms differ by operator. Before signing, confirm it is a residential lease of at least thirty days |
Seal Co-living belongs in the co-living row. The minimum lease is 30 days, which means you can live here from one month, furnished, and most rooms are shared rooms. Monthly rent starts at NT$8,000 (≈ US$250) per bed. That is the price for a lease of at least twelve months, and shorter leases cost a little more per month. The deposit is 1 month of rent, plus a monthly utilities fee of NT$1,000 and a one-time move-in fee of NT$1,500. Room types and prices for each lease length are on the house list. You can write to us in Japanese, English or Chinese, and we can reply in any of them. To arrange a viewing, fill in the online booking form.
Students also have school dormitories. Eligibility and application dates differ by school, and we have collected them in Student housing near NTU, NTUST and NTNU: dorms, off-campus rooms and one-semester leases.
Anti-fraud reminders before a viewing and before you transfer money
Without Chinese you cannot ask many follow-up questions, which makes it easier to be pushed along by lines like "transfer first and I will hold it for you". The National Police Agency's 165 anti-fraud website published this case. Someone saw a rental advert in a Facebook group for a place in a good location with easy transport. The other party asked for a holding payment before any viewing. After he made the transfer, the excuses started, and in the end he could not reach them at all. He did not even have their real name or address.
Drawing on the 165 anti-fraud site's guidance, these habits help before you rent.
- Before signing, do not hand money to someone who claims to be the landlord.
- Confirm that the other party owns the property.
- Be wary of listings with unreasonably low rent.
- Look for listings on rental sites that do more screening.
- If something seems off, call the 165 anti-fraud hotline to check, or report it to the police directly.
In practice the order is: view the room, read the contract, and pay the deposit only at signing. Under Article 7 of the Act the deposit may not exceed 2 months' rent. Before you transfer, check that the name on the receiving account matches the landlord on the contract. Article 13 of the same Act requires a landlord's rental advertisement to match the facts, so if the place looks very different from the photos when you arrive, you can ask about it on the spot, and you can walk away.
Calling 165 from a landline is free. The National Police Agency's FAQ also says that besides phoning, you can file a report online on the 165 anti-fraud website.
Frequently asked questions
Does 591 have a Japanese or English version?
When we checked on 10 Oct 2026, the list page and the listing pages of the web version were in Chinese and we saw no language switch. Browser translation plus the tables in this article is enough to understand most listings.
Can you use 591 without logging in?
You can browse, filter and open listing pages. The page says the full information is shown after logging in, and the box for messaging the owner is also near the bottom of the listing page. We have not gone through registration ourselves, so check 591's sign-up page for what it asks for.
Can you find a place on 591 for only three months?
Yes, though with far fewer choices. Open the extra options, tick 「可短期租賃」, then check 「最短租期」 on each listing page. If a full round turns up nothing suitable, look at co-living and monthly furnished places, which take shorter stays by design. We wrote up how renting from one month works in Short-term rental in Taipei from 30 days: renting for one to six months, and the total cost.
The landlord wants a booking fee before holding the room. Should you pay?
No. The 165 anti-fraud site warns that paying a rental deposit in advance is a scam, and the 591 listing page states plainly that this is a scam tactic. View first, and pay at signing.
Sources
(All retrieved on 2026-10-10)
- 1.591 Rent: interface terms on the list page and listing pagesrent.591.com.tw/list?region=1
- 2.591 tenant handbook: the rental process591.com.tw/help-book18.html
- 3.591 app page591.com.tw/iphone-android.html
- 4.National Police Agency, 165 anti-fraud website: paying a rental deposit in advance is a scam, watch out for online rental traps165.npa.gov.tw/#/article/1/1522
- 5.National Police Agency FAQ: is there a charge for calling the 165 anti-fraud hotlinenpa.gov.tw/ch/app/faq/view?module=faq&id=2144&serno=A1078837
- 6.Laws & Regulations Database: Rental Housing Market Development and Regulation Actlaw.moj.gov.tw/LawClass/LawAll.aspx?pcode=D0060125
- 7.Ministry of the Interior: mandatory and prohibited provisions for standard-form residential lease contracts (住宅租賃定型化契約應記載及不得記載事項)glrs.moi.gov.tw/LawContent.aspx?id=GL000907
- 8.Ministry of the Interior, Department of Land Administration: English translation of the sample residential leaseland.moi.gov.tw/chhtml/content/89?mcid=4068
- 9.Ministry of the Interior, real estate service industry information system: rental housing service business searchresim.moi.gov.tw/Home/RentIndex
Approximate conversions use the Bank of Taiwan rate on 14 Oct 2026. You pay in Taiwan dollars.
