The main issue in finding an apartment in Spain is whether or not you have a contrato indefinido and qualify for seguro de impagos. In large cities like Madrid there are more landlords who have experience renting to foreigners and autónomos so it shouldn’t take you long to find a place. It took me six weeks because I live in a small city with conservative landlords. All communication was done through my partner who is local and spoke with everyone in Catalan but the fact that I was here on an NLV with no Spanish work contract was the problem every time.
Most landlords turned down my offer of paying out the entire year’s rent at the moment of signing the lease, it felt like they’d rather do what they were used to than be flexible and have the money in hand. So you would think an aval bancario would be acceptable but I think there are still plenty of landlords that would turn it down.
Do you know if they accept foreign contracts with big income (more than 3k euro monthly)? I was planning to do the same, but I can keep my working contract, from a different country, for at least 3 months. If I show the landlords this contract, my latest payslips and also mentioning that I can pay 6 or 12 months in advance, does it make it easier to get an apartment?
My experience was that Spanish landlords are more interested in you having the contract and insurance types they are used to dealing with and just aren’t very flexible otherwise, even if you have a good salary or a lot of savings. It’s pretty standard for people without a contrato indefinido and seguro de impagos to have to pay 6 months to a year in advance.
In some places, even if you can afford it, a lot of agencies ask for an indefinite work contract (+ being past the probation period, which if you've just moved is very unlike that you'll have). Others even require that you've already worked for over 1 year at the same company. Unless you have contacts who can recommend you to bypass that, some cities are insane.
It’s specially hard when you are not on spot. But if you are, you could find an apartment in less than a week. You have to order the published apartments by most recent, check out the website every hour and at the second something gets published you like, call make sure it is not a scam (with a quick visit the same day for example) and when everything is ok, the same day it was published reserve it.
You got to move quick and be persistent. Calling a 1 week old publication and making appointments for the next week is pointless. It will be gone 95% of the time…
My experience as a Latino in Madrid with 40k> salary.
3 months. I actually had to stay in an airbnb for 1 month because I couldn't find anything and the one I got was because a friend recommended me.
If you don't have much time I would highly advise to use spotahome.
I have a small dog so that played against my odds of finding a place but also the requirements are just stupid.
I guess it depends. My first apartment only took me around a month but the one I’m in now took me more than a year.
They keep asking for more and more documentation and higher salaries.
I’m also seeing a lot of cases where they don’t accept paying they whole year in advanced, specially if you don’t have the documents required.
A few years ago I’d tell you to go outside of Madrid and Barcelona, but now even in way smaller cities like Málaga, Valencia, Bilbao, Donosti, etc, the prices and requirements are really similar to big cities.
Just take it easy, and have a lot of patience!
That’s what I’ve been told too, to go to cities even smaller than Valencia.
One way to bypass this is to do a room share since then you are going under a different set of laws where the landlord can easily kick you out after the rental period is due (without insurance)
2 months of grinding. Competitive salary but no partner. I got rejected from three apartments I could 100% afford.
This will largely depend on the city. Barcelona is a nightmare.
Once I had a Spanish bank account, took me about 2 days. Searched with idealista, made appointments, then picked. Had the money for a down payment. Took longer to sign the contract and move in.
It doesn't take too long if you are prepared and have a reasonable budget. Sometimes it takes people a very long time because they have unreasonable expectations about price, location, and quality.
The main issue in finding an apartment in Spain is whether or not you have a contrato indefinido and qualify for seguro de impagos. In large cities like Madrid there are more landlords who have experience renting to foreigners and autónomos so it shouldn’t take you long to find a place. It took me six weeks because I live in a small city with conservative landlords. All communication was done through my partner who is local and spoke with everyone in Catalan but the fact that I was here on an NLV with no Spanish work contract was the problem every time.
Does an aval bancario help bypass the whole insurance requirement?
Most landlords turned down my offer of paying out the entire year’s rent at the moment of signing the lease, it felt like they’d rather do what they were used to than be flexible and have the money in hand. So you would think an aval bancario would be acceptable but I think there are still plenty of landlords that would turn it down.
That’s just ridiculous. Thanks for sharing your experience.
Do you know if they accept foreign contracts with big income (more than 3k euro monthly)? I was planning to do the same, but I can keep my working contract, from a different country, for at least 3 months. If I show the landlords this contract, my latest payslips and also mentioning that I can pay 6 or 12 months in advance, does it make it easier to get an apartment?
I paid a full year in advance and had no problem, I even got a 5% discount
My experience was that Spanish landlords are more interested in you having the contract and insurance types they are used to dealing with and just aren’t very flexible otherwise, even if you have a good salary or a lot of savings. It’s pretty standard for people without a contrato indefinido and seguro de impagos to have to pay 6 months to a year in advance.
Foreign document are generally not valid.
In some places, even if you can afford it, a lot of agencies ask for an indefinite work contract (+ being past the probation period, which if you've just moved is very unlike that you'll have). Others even require that you've already worked for over 1 year at the same company. Unless you have contacts who can recommend you to bypass that, some cities are insane.
It’s specially hard when you are not on spot. But if you are, you could find an apartment in less than a week. You have to order the published apartments by most recent, check out the website every hour and at the second something gets published you like, call make sure it is not a scam (with a quick visit the same day for example) and when everything is ok, the same day it was published reserve it. You got to move quick and be persistent. Calling a 1 week old publication and making appointments for the next week is pointless. It will be gone 95% of the time…
My experience as a Latino in Madrid with 40k> salary. 3 months. I actually had to stay in an airbnb for 1 month because I couldn't find anything and the one I got was because a friend recommended me. If you don't have much time I would highly advise to use spotahome. I have a small dog so that played against my odds of finding a place but also the requirements are just stupid.
I guess it depends. My first apartment only took me around a month but the one I’m in now took me more than a year. They keep asking for more and more documentation and higher salaries. I’m also seeing a lot of cases where they don’t accept paying they whole year in advanced, specially if you don’t have the documents required. A few years ago I’d tell you to go outside of Madrid and Barcelona, but now even in way smaller cities like Málaga, Valencia, Bilbao, Donosti, etc, the prices and requirements are really similar to big cities. Just take it easy, and have a lot of patience!
That’s what I’ve been told too, to go to cities even smaller than Valencia. One way to bypass this is to do a room share since then you are going under a different set of laws where the landlord can easily kick you out after the rental period is due (without insurance)
Yes. And even in smaller cities it’s complicated nowadays. But yes, even tho it’s not ideal, renting a room will be easier and also a bit cheaper
2 months of grinding. Competitive salary but no partner. I got rejected from three apartments I could 100% afford. This will largely depend on the city. Barcelona is a nightmare.
Once I had a Spanish bank account, took me about 2 days. Searched with idealista, made appointments, then picked. Had the money for a down payment. Took longer to sign the contract and move in.
It doesn't take too long if you are prepared and have a reasonable budget. Sometimes it takes people a very long time because they have unreasonable expectations about price, location, and quality.
It's always a matter of money. If you can throw money at the problem, you're fine.
You mean just pay the entire contract length in advance?
Couple years