Renting a property

Hi

might be going to live in Spain 2008 - 2009

I read in some info about renting in BARCELONA that a minimum rental agreement period for an apartment would be 12 months. Is this generally the case throughout Spain?

Is it possible to rent for shorter period without getting into short term holiday renting costs?

 

cheers

 

Bill

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Hi Bill l think you will find you have got that the wrong way round,well for the owner anyway,it is best to rent long term up to 11 months because any longer than that and the tenants have certain rights under spanish law. Regards Pat.

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Thanks for that Pat

 

I have since spoken to someone else who also mentionned the extra bureacracy with renting over 11 months. So my original info source must have been inaccurate or I misread it. So that's good for us as we probably wouldn't stay more than 6 months.

 

Can I ask if you live in Spain yourself?  Do you own a place or rent?

 

regards

 

Bill Sykes

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Hi Bill,

I think we are talking maximums here as opposed to minimums!  For an owner it is in their interest not to exceed an 11 month period otherwise all sorts of problems could arise.  For a renter, you can have a contract for as litle as e.g. 3 months if required.

Regards

Sharon

sharon@tmasspain.com

  

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Renting costs are not  legally linked to the kind of contract you use ( residential-non residential) but on market parameters. You can rent for less than 12 months if you reach that agreement with the owner also at the cost that you mutually agree.

 

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Maria De Castro

 

thank you for your information. Can I ask some more questions?

 

would you recommend trying to rent accomodation from UK through an agent before we go ?

OR wait until when we are in Spain and can look directly? - is this cheaper?

 

Is it normal to pay a deposit and rent in advance?

 

Do we have any rights if a landlord doesn't return a deposit or evicts us?

 

We would prefer to live in a city at first and integrate with Spanish people rather than by the coast with a lot of British ex-pats. Will we face any problems or discrimination trying to find a place to live?

 

Also a seperate issue. We have twins who will be 3 1/2 when we go to Spain. I want ti find out about child care with english speaking nurseries or nannies. can you recommend a website or something?

 

many thanks for your help

 

Bill Sykes

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Hi Bill, welcome to Eye on Spain.

We have twins ourselves and moved to Spain when they were 2 (they are 5 now).

We found that moving with kids really helps as you get to meet a lot of people through the school, parties, etc.  It's great.

Regarding rentals, the thing is that you really need to see somewhere before you rent it so I would suggest you come out and look around say a month before moving out, just so that everything is in place when you move.  You need to make things as easy as possible.

You will need to pay normally a month's deposit, first month's rent and also, sometimes, the last month's rent too so that you don't run off at the end as many do!

Hope that helps a bit.

Justin

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Bill,

following Justin´s advise and answers, I am also answering in blue below:

 

Maria De Castro

 

thank you for your information. Can I ask some more questions?

 

would you recommend trying to rent accomodation from UK through an agent before we go ?

OR wait until when we are in Spain and can look directly?  Justin knows more and better- is this cheaper? Cheaper with a good local agent.

 

Is it normal to pay a deposit and rent in advance? It is obligatory by law to  pay a deposit equivalent to one month´s rent.

 

Do we have any rights if a landlord doesn't return a deposit or evicts us? Of course you do. You can ask for devolution of rent plus interests and have your contract rights to be opossed if the landlord initiated an eviction procedure. I recommend you to subject the contract to arbitration rather than to judicial interpretation. Faster and cheaper.

 

We would prefer to live in a city at first and integrate with Spanish people rather than by the coast with a lot of British ex-pats. Will we face any problems or discrimination trying to find a place to live? I do not think so. A good understanding of our culture and idiosincrasy will help a lot. And an effort to speak spanish is always very much appreciated. Susan  knows a lot about that.

 

Also a seperate issue. We have twins who will be 3 1/2 when we go to Spain. I want ti find out about child care with english speaking nurseries or nannies. can you recommend a website or something? I am afraid I cannot, but follow Justin´s advise as he is  father of twins too!!

 

many thanks for your help

 

Bill Sykes

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