Renting a flat in Spain

A typical listing looks like this: piso de 2 habitaciones, 65 m², exterior, amueblado, 3º sin ascensor, 800 € + gastos, fianza 2 meses. Every part of it costs or saves you money. Exterior means the windows give onto the street — light and noise; interior means they face an inner courtyard, so it is darker and quieter and usually cheaper.

Watch habitaciones: Spanish counts bedrooms, not rooms, so 2 habitaciones is a two-bedroom flat. 3º sin ascensor is a third floor with no lift, and in Spain the planta baja is the ground floor, so the third floor is four flights up. Amueblado is furnished; sin amueblar can mean no fridge and no lamps at all.

You arrange it with ¿se puede visitar esta semana? and then ask the four questions that decide everything. ¿Los gastos están incluidos? — bills. ¿Cuánto es la comunidad? — the building service charge, which sometimes falls on the tenant. ¿De cuánto es la fianza? — the deposit. ¿Cuánto dura el contrato? — the term.

Then the practical ones: ¿la calefacción es de gas o eléctrica?, ¿hay internet?, ¿se admiten animales?, ¿quién paga las reparaciones? Ask them out loud at the flat, not by message afterwards — you will get straighter answers.

The fianza is a deposit, normally one month by law and often two by agreement, and it comes back at the end minus damage. Separately an agency may charge honorarios. Gastos covers luz, agua, gas and basura, and gastos incluidos in an ad often turns out to mean only water.

Before signing, ask for the contrato de alquiler in writing and check three words in it: duración (how long), preaviso (how much notice to leave, usually 30 days) and actualización de la renta (how the rent goes up). Landlords will ask you for a nómina (payslip) or a aval (guarantee) — that request is completely routine.