By that point, Robin came out from behind the counter to greet the landlord, “Mr. Reyes, she is Sophia,
the one who is interested in renting the place.”
The landlord turned to look at Sophia as he nodded. “Nice to meet you.”
Sophia responded with a smile. “Likewise.”
Meanwhile, John maintained an aloof expression as he turned to enter the shop as if he were at his
own territory. “Let’s talk inside.”
Sophia knew nothing of renting a shop lot, so she left the negotiations up to John and Zack. The four of
them sat by one of the tables, while Sophia was focused on reading the contract the landlord brought
with him, which was for her perusal later on. After going through the entire contract, Sophia didn’t seem
to find anything she felt needed amendments.
In the meantime, John waited until she finished reading the contract before saying, “Let me go through
that.”
While she passed the contract to him, John laid eyes on the ring on her finger, which he felt was a little
too dazzling on her. He spent a few seconds staring at the ring before looking toward her, but she was
so focused on the meeting that she didn’t notice his expression.
On the other hand, Zack requested for the basic info about the shop lot from the landlord, such as the
usable areas within the shop, as well as permission regarding renovation. The professional manner in
which Zack stated his questions seemed to have startled the landlord.
Upon reading through the contract, John pointed out two of the points he found questionable. “Your
contract only laid out the obligations of the tenant without mentioning their rights, so that is
unacceptable. Aside from that, shouldn’t we pay our own utility bills? Why are you in charge of that,
and why do you get to decide the rates?”
Sophia let out a cry of surprise as she read through the contract again, during which she found out that
it was indeed listed in the contract that she would have to pay the bills to the landlord alongside the
rent. Moreover, she realized that the rates would go according to the market rate of the shop’s rental,
and she had no idea of what it meant. She never realized any of those problems earlier.
An awkward expression crept onto the landlord’s face while he replied, “I had always been doing it like
this, as do the rest of the landowners on this street. You can ask around if you wish to.”
A snigger escaped John. “If that’s the case, can you tell me what are your rates for water and electricity
bills?”
The smile on Mr. Reyes’ face faltered a little as he said, “On this street, electricity costs five for each
unit, while each tonne of water would cost five. As soon as usage exceeds three tonnes, the rates will
be raised to seven per tonne.”
“If that’s the case, I don’t see the point in working on this anymore.” John put down the contract before
looking toward Sophia. “I can help you find a shop lot at a better location, which would charge you
according to the rates stipulated by the government.”
With her mouth hung agape, Sophia was dumbfounded by how things turned out. John stood up as
soon as he said, “I know someone from around the area, so I know how the bills are charged.” He then
turned to look at Robin, but the latter stared at him with a confused expression while standing behind
the counter.
“Was your contract the same as this?” John asked.
Sounding surprised, she answered, “I think so...” She took over her shop from someone else without
giving much thought to it, and she even thought it convenient to pay the bills to the landlord alongside
the rent. Upon observing her response, John let out a smirk.
Meanwhile, Zack stood from his seat and called for Sophia to come along, “Let’s go. Why didn’t you tell
Boss that you wanted to rent a shop lot? He has a lot of property under his name, so could easily give
you one of them.”
Sophia shot up from her seat. “I don’t want his help! I want to do this on my own!”
The landlord followed suit as he called out to them, which caused Zack, John and Sophia to turn to
meet him. While feeling a little awkward, he managed to put forth a negotiation by telling them, “How
long are you planning to rent the place for? We can come to an agreement if you will be spending a
long time here.” He was obviously trying to rationalize his actions. “I used to have tenants who ran
away after a short amount of time without paying for the utility bills, so I had to pay for them on my own.
These terms serve to protect my interests, or else I would suffer huge losses if all of my tenants were to
do that.”
He sure asked for a heck of a lot of security by setting such high rates.
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