China Desk

The China Desk — bilingual Mandarin and Cantonese service

Harvey W James operates a bilingual Mandarin and Cantonese desk for landlords whose primary working language is not English. Same audit standard, same compliance, same reporting cadence as our English-speaking landlord book. Two languages on the front end, one operational standard behind it.

This page describes who the China Desk serves, how it works, the tax partner we route overseas-landlord work through, and the regulatory landscape that matters most to a Chinese-speaking landlord letting in central London.

Your China Desk contact — Hanna Yu. Hanna is our China Desk team member; she speaks fluent Mandarin and deals with our Chinese-speaking clients directly. Add us on WeChat (微信) — ID HarveyWJames — or email info@harveywjames.com and ask for the China Desk.

1. Who the China Desk is for

Landlords resident in mainland China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, or anywhere in the Chinese-speaking world who own central London property and need it let and managed to UK regulatory standard while their primary correspondence language remains Mandarin or Cantonese.

You do not need to be resident overseas to use the desk. Some of our China Desk landlords are based in London but prefer to discuss financial and contractual decisions in their first language. The desk is a language and cultural service. The audit standard is identical regardless of where you live or which language you choose.

2. What the desk does, in two languages

Every client-facing communication available in Mandarin or Cantonese, on request:

• Initial valuation, marketing strategy, and rent-pricing discussion
• Tenancy agreement explanation and signing
• Monthly rent statements and end-of-year landlord report
• Repair authorisation requests and contractor coordination updates
• Deposit reconciliation and end-of-tenancy financial summary
• Section 13 rent review notice (Form 4A) and the strategic decision behind it
• Renters’ Rights Act 2025 compliance updates — what each new statutory obligation means for the property
• Section 8 possession proceedings, where relevant, with documents translated for landlord understanding (the court itself operates in English)

The underlying contracts are in English — UK law requires it — but every commercial and operational discussion happens in the language the landlord chooses.

3. Tax handled by a strategic partner — YWC London LLP

Overseas-landlord tax is a specialist field. UK letting agents who try to advise on it without proper qualification routinely cost their landlords more than they save. We don’t.

For the tax layer we route every China Desk landlord to our strategic accountancy partner, YWC London LLP. Bilingual practice, Gerrard Street / Chinatown office, deep experience with the cross-border tax framework that applies to Chinese landlords letting UK property. The primary contact for our landlords is Susan Ren, who handles the bilingual accounts personally.

YWC London LLP advise on:

• Non-Resident Landlord (NRL) Scheme. Without HMRC gross-payment approval, the letting agent (us) is required to withhold 20% basic-rate income tax from rent and remit it to HMRC. With NRL gross-payment approval, the landlord receives the full rent and reports it through Self-Assessment. YWC arranges the application and runs the year-end reconciliation.
• Self-Assessment for non-resident landlords. Annual return, tax computation, allowable-expense deductions, foreign tax credit relief where a double taxation agreement applies (the UK–China DTA is the most common case for our landlords).
• Making Tax Digital (MTD). From April 2026, landlords with gross rental income above £50,000 must keep digital records and file quarterly updates through MTD-compatible software. The £30,000 threshold follows in April 2027. YWC handles the software set-up and the quarterly filings.
• Inheritance tax planning where the property forms part of a wider UK estate-planning question.

We do not charge a referral fee or commission. The YWC relationship is a strategic partnership for the benefit of our landlords, not a revenue line for Harvey W James. See Overseas Landlords for the wider HWJ-YWC partnership detail.

4. How rent and money flow

Rent collected from your tenant is held in our FCA-authorised UK client account at LettsPay (a Propertymark Client Money Protection scheme participant). Sterling-denominated. Monthly statement; net rent paid to whichever account you nominate.

Foreign exchange and remittance back to your home jurisdiction are matters you arrange with your own bank, currency broker or YWC London LLP. We do not provide FX or remittance services and we do not earn from currency margins; the rent we hold and pay is in sterling, full stop.

5. What the China Desk does not do

Clarity on scope is part of the service. The desk does not provide:

• Property purchase or investment advice. We are a lettings and property management business, not a sales agency or financial adviser. Property purchase enquiries are referred to specialist sales firms whose work we know and respect, with no fee returning to us.
• Immigration or visa products. The desk does not promote investor visa programmes, golden visa schemes, or any product whose primary purpose is immigration. UK immigration policy is set by the Home Office; we have no role in it.
• Currency or FX broking. As above.
• Tax advice or filing. That is what YWC London LLP is for.
• Personal banking arrangements. Your UK personal account, if you need one, is between you and the bank.

Saying clearly what we do not do is how we keep the focus on what we do.

6. The regulatory landscape that matters most

For overseas-resident landlords who let through Harvey W James, four pieces of the UK private rented sector regulatory regime are doing most of the work:

1. Non-Resident Landlord Scheme — HMRC withholding, NRL gross-payment approval, Self-Assessment. YWC London LLP handles this.
2. Making Tax Digital — April 2026 (income above £50,000) and April 2027 (above £30,000) phases. YWC London LLP handles this.
3. Renters’ Rights Act 2025 — Section 21 abolished since 1 May 2026; periodic tenancies; statutory tenant exit rights with two months’ written notice; one possession route through Section 8 only, by named ground, with prescribed evidence. We handle the lettings-side operation; see Renters’ Rights Act 2025 for the regime change in full.
4. Awaab’s Law — from October 2027, hazards (especially damp and mould) must be investigated within 14 days and made-safe or repaired within 7 days of identification, with stricter rules for emergencies. We handle the response operation; see Awaab’s Law.

We also focus, as a portfolio-level matter, on properties at EPC ratings B and C — for the reasons set out in Energy Performance Certificates.

7. Contact the China Desk

• Telephone: 020 3865 1500 (ask for the China Desk; Mandarin and Cantonese available)
• Email: info@harveywjames.com (subject line "China Desk" routes to the right team)
• Office: 1st Floor, 415 High Street, Stratford, London, E15 4QZ
• For tax matters: Susan Ren at YWC London LLP — overseas-landlords has the introduction route.

This page describes our bilingual lettings and property management service. It is not legal or tax advice. For the relevant statutory framework, see the page links above; for tax advice specific to your circumstances, contact YWC London LLP through the introduction route on the Overseas Landlords page.

Last reviewed: 25 May 2026