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B115 words5 phrases

Moving house

Renting in Spain has its own script, and the words on the contract decide how much money you get back at the end.

Quick answer

La fianza es de un mes de alquiler.

The deposit is one month of rent. La fianza is the legal deposit, not a fee, and you should get it back.

The words

SpanishEnglish
la mudanzathe house move
la cajathe box
el camiónthe lorry
el pisothe flat
el alquilerthe rent
la fianzathe deposit
el contratothe contract
el caserothe landlord
el inquilinothe tenant
la llavethe key
el vecinothe neighbour
el trasterothe storage room
los gastosthe bills
embalarto pack
mudarseto move house

The phrases you will actually say

La fianza es de un mes de alquiler.The deposit is one month of rent.
Nos mudamos a un piso más grande.We are moving to a bigger flat.
¿El alquiler incluye los gastos?Does the rent include the bills?
He embalado los libros en cinco cajas.I have packed the books in five boxes.
El casero me devuelve las llaves mañana.The landlord gives me the keys back tomorrow.

Worth knowing

La fianza is the one word to get right. Under Spanish tenancy law a residential let carries a legal deposit of one month of rent, which the landlord must lodge with the regional housing body and return once the tenancy ends and any damage is settled; many landlords also ask for extra guarantees on top, which are negotiated rather than fixed. Keep la fianza apart from la señal, a holding payment to reserve the flat. The verb is reflexive: me mudo el sábado, because mover means to shift an object, not to change address. El piso is a flat in Spain but the floor of a building too, and Latin America says el departamento or el apartamento. Once you have moved, the first errand at the town hall is el empadronamiento, registering on the local register, which many other procedures then ask you to prove.

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