Is this real?

I am checking out long term rentals in Mijas Costa and one catches my eye: it's okaaay sort of but he / she is looking for a month's rent up front (fair enough) and two months collateral. Come on, that is not rent in advance; it is €1,000 in their bank plus interest. Are they really in 2011?

There's a bank paying interest ??????

Mike

Correctly any deposit paid should be deposited with the Junta de Andalucia.

You should insist on a properly registered tenancy agreement.

It's usual to charge two months deposit + 1 month's rent in advanced, infact legally thats how much deposit  the owner should pay into the Camera de Comercio to register the rental.... but hardly anyone actually registers a rental legally, although in these hard times some people are willing to take one month's deposit and 1 month in advance, The important thing for you is to ensure that the rental that you sign is legally sound, you should check this out with a Lawyer to be on the safe side. The deposit is a security for the owner, in case of damage to the property or failure to pay rent.  Happy house hunting!

I am not surprised, specially when people leave destroying apartments and owing hundreds in bills and rent.

I know that this is not always the case but unfortunately many people have been burnt with rentals on the coast.

In most cases they will be happy to negotiate so offer a months deposit and a month up fron and see what happens.

Joan

Fair point, Joan  ...   and thanks everyone. On that point, Joan it could be added that it is 50/50. For every rogue tenant there is a rogue landlord. This may be fuelling and perpetuating the 'war' between the two sides. As a matter of fact I have it in mind to pull together one of my columns on the subject of rogue landlords. I could tell a few stories.

Here in Madrid the standard arrangement is:

- one month's deposit;

- one month's rent paid in advance;

- an Aval for a certain number of month's rent.

I had to provide three month's Aval. I've been lucky, I have to pay for my bank to provide the Aval (a guarantee they will pay up to three month's rent if I fail to pay at some stage) but I have not had to put that sum into escrow with them. Most of my Spanish colleagues have to provide the cash to the bank and also have larger Avals - typically six months but in a couple of cases twelve months.

The estate agent told me that expats here (providing they furnish the landlord with copies of employment contracts) tend to get away with shorter Avals than the locals - rightly or wrongly the landlords trust locals less.

I  love it when i see people  who is looking at renting a property, having a go at  the deposits etc. they give over 1000 euro( if you are lucky.)  you give them keys to a property worth 200k i think they are having the cake and eating it. 

If you were talking UK, no-one could argue.  But €1,000 is still a lot of money to a lot of people and it is rare in Spain for that deposit to be held by a neutral with a cast-iron guarantee of it being returned if all conditions are met - as is normally the case in the UK.  In Spain, it is more usual for it to be held by the landlord and it can often prove troublesome getting it back.  So not quite as black and white as you make it out to be.

Don't k now much about the rental market in Spain or UK but I know a man who does!! They have told of extortionate amounts witheld from holding deposits in the UK when they left, eg. door handles not polished £40 charge, a piece of furniture the tenant had moved to another room £40 charge to move it back and so on. All of the places where dirty and needed a good clean when the tenants moved originally in and then they got hit with these sort of charges when they left (not all the same tenant or property), apparantly this is not uncommon in the UK.

Regarding the UK, I suspect those examples are either apocryphal or historic. Under the Housing Act 2004, deposits must (since 2007) be administered by a Tenancy Deposit Scheme such as the Deposit Protection Service.

Under these schemes, the deposit is placed in escrow and the landlord is not able to deduct sums as they wish - they can only do so with the consent of either the tenant or a court.

This has really cleaned things up in the UK, a similar scheme could be very beneficial here as well, although it's unlikely to be a legislative priority in the short term.

My advise is always to submit the rental to arbitration and hire an Insurance for unpaid rents.

When signing the contract and by legal imperative, the tenant needs to hand over to the landlord a cash rental deposit of one month’s rent in order to guarantee any damage caused in the property by the tenant. The damage needs to be proved as not being the consequence of the habitual use of the house.

This cash will be given back to the tenant once the house is given back in perfect state after the renting period. If damages have been caused, the cost of the repair of these will be deducted from the deposit amount. This deposit cannot be used to pay rental instalments. The deposit can be asked back if not given to the tenant after the letting, interests will be charged. The updating of the deposit amounts and rents can be done after the first five years of renting.

http://www.eyeonspain.com/spain-magazine/renting-maria5.aspx