Lesley Carroll

Hi

When renting in the UK the agent/owner will ask for deposits and references.

How will references be followed up in Spain??

Has anyone any experience of renting for 6 months or more?

Cheers

cricketman

Yes, in Barcelona I was asked for a reference from my employer for proof of salary. Otherwise they will ask for a 3 month or 6 month aval bancario. Which means you have to put that much money into a bank deposit as a guarentee that you will pay the rent

However, in Malaga they are much more relaxed because there are too many properties and not enough tenants, so they'll probably just ask for 1 months deposit, and the first months rent to be paid before you move in. And no references.

fionamw

It intrigues me that rents really don't seem (on the face of it, or in agents' literature/windows, anyway) to be falling.... we'd love to rent somewhere nearer school but locals agree the rentals are equivalent to mortgage payments. Unless of course I'm looking in Malaga's equivalent of Kensington, which is possible...... !!

cricketman

In my view rents have been falling drastically

The flat I rent, was rented out for 2 years at 1200 euros per month in 2007, now we pay 800.

Malaga's most expensive area is Malagueta/Limonar, and there you can rent a family flat for 800-1100 euros.

Renting out houses is more expensive all along the coast and round the city more expensive still, but I would bet that rents are much lower than a few years ago. For example there is a house for sale at 750k in the Malagueta with a rent of 1200 euros per month. That is less than a quarter what the mortgage would be for that property.

snikpoh

Yes rents have fallen a lot - I've had to reduce the rent on the flats that I have by up to 20% over the last couple of years.

Lesley Carroll

Where about in Malaga are you living? Would you recommend it?

We will be looking for a 2 bed flat with some outdoor space, terrace/balcony, preferably in a quiet area. Luckily we don't need to be need schools as our children have flown the nest!!

Lesley Carroll

We've been looking at the Enalquiler and Fotocasa websites. The prices seem to vary greatly from 550 euros to 850 euros per month for similar sounding properties to the east of the city, El Limonar and Malaguetta included.

No doubt we will see why when we get there in January!!

cricketman

I've found you can normally tell by the photos, but yes the best thing is to visit the places and look around!

The key about the east of the city is to be not too close to a main road (as very noisy), but not too far away from the city and the beach

jay01

Have a look on the website kyero.com, then filter your search to your requirements, such as area, bedrooms required etc.

We rent a 4/5 bed house with 6000sqm orchard in Alhaurin el grande for 500e a month. We paid one months rent and the same in deposit in advance and had no reference checks or even a request for one. Must admit I think we were lucky with what and have found our landlady really responsive to repair requests.

I think if you are good with them they are good with you, we pay our rent 3 months in advance so never have to worry about it and it seems to work for her as well, we are able to help ourselves to the produce in the orchard and if we want we can do bits and pieces to help out

fionamw

I think there's no substitute for spending as much time as you can just driving around; and by that I don't mean staying in the car, I mean stopping for a coffee somewhere, getting the feel for the noise, etc - because cricketman's right to be wary but equally you can find somewhere (for example the Malaga end of Pedregalejo) which is effectively 2nd line from the beach & VERY close to the main coastal road yet seems like a little oasis, no particular noise disturbance at all.
Unfortunately, to answer Lesley's question, we aren't in Malaga. Well unfortunately isn't the word. We love where we are but with an 8yo pining for friends' company and us pining for a bit more ease of access to the human race, we're cogitating what to do. Thankfully having him in school down there we've got a pretty close idea where we'd like to be. And thusfar haven't actually spent enough time really trying to get anywhere.
But 550-1100 is a wide range so we'll keep looking!