# Signing For Long Term Rental - Malaga



## caseyprince (Oct 7, 2012)

Hello Everyone!

We are currently living in the UK but have booked flights to view long term rentals within the Malaga / Nerja areas next month. The end goal is to sign a lease agreement and relocate no later than Feb 2013. We have our own online business which means we can work from home and have no ties here in the UK.

As this is our first trip to Spain to view properties, I was wondering if anyone that has been through this process has any advice or tips!? It seems like this is a well travelled path specifically for UK citizens and you guys seem to have a lot of knowledge. Any tips would be greatly apprecaited!

Thanks all! 

Casey


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

caseyprince said:


> Hello Everyone!
> 
> We are currently living in the UK but have booked flights to view long term rentals within the Malaga / Nerja areas next month. The end goal is to sign a lease agreement and relocate no later than Feb 2013. We have our own online business which means we can work from home and have no ties here in the UK.
> 
> ...


As long as you have proof of income and healthcare arrangements (get the S1 form from newcastle), then you should be fine. You'll need those for your NIE/residencia certificate. 

Nerja is a lovely place and I'm going to rent there fro the winter

Welcome to the forum

Jo xxx


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## caseyprince (Oct 7, 2012)

jojo said:


> As long as you have proof of income and healthcare arrangements (get the S1 form from newcastle), then you should be fine. You'll need those for your NIE/residencia certificate.
> 
> Nerja is a lovely place and I'm going to rent there fro the winter
> 
> ...


Thanks Jo, that's great. Quick question for you though, I have a European Health Insurance Card or EHIC. Is this sufficient or do I need to apply for something else? :ranger:


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

caseyprince said:


> Thanks Jo, that's great. Quick question for you though, I have a European Health Insurance Card or EHIC. Is this sufficient or do I need to apply for something else? :ranger:



You need to apply for the reciprocal agreement - the S1. The EHIC is only for holiday emergencies. Once you're a resident, it wont count and it wont enable you to have any on going treatment or register with a doctor etc

Jo xxx


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## thrax (Nov 13, 2008)

Nerja is a wonderful town and the villages outside are beautiful. I assume you are going to use estate agent(s) for your search? Beware, there are a few very dodgy agents in Nerja. I won't post their names here but once you have made 5 posts you can pm me and I'll tell you the ones you should avoid and those you can trust.


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## caseyprince (Oct 7, 2012)

thrax said:


> Nerja is a wonderful town and the villages outside are beautiful. I assume you are going to use estate agent(s) for your search? Beware, there are a few very dodgy agents in Nerja. I won't post their names here but once you have made 5 posts you can pm me and I'll tell you the ones you should avoid and those you can trust.


Thanks for this, I had a feeling there may a few 'less than reputable' estate agencies that we have been a little concerned about. One gentleman wants to show us a place outside Nerja but is emailing us from a generic hotmail account. I would be very interested in learning more from you in private messages of course. Thanks for the tip!


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## stevec2x (Mar 24, 2012)

caseyprince said:


> Hello Everyone!
> 
> We are currently living in the UK but have booked flights to view long term rentals within the Malaga / Nerja areas next month. The end goal is to sign a lease agreement and relocate no later than Feb 2013. We have our own online business which means we can work from home and have no ties here in the UK.
> 
> ...


Hi

We had a week in April to look for long term rental in the Torrevieja area. We visited a letting agent in the centre of town - he asked us what our budget was, and then found properties to match. All of the properties he showed us were actually advertised at more than our budget, but he had the knowledge/clout to get the price down to what we had said our budget was. My only regret is that we didn't give him a lower budget figure first - maybe he would have showed us the same properties! During this week, it became clear that rentals can be significantly cheaper than what's seen on the web.

We were also determined to make a decision during the week that we were here - after all, we didn't want to pay for another week of exploration, and the nature of rental is that you can move on if you see something better.

It was all very straightforward. Before coming here we arranged to let out our property in the UK - which involved plenty of red tape. But when it came to finding a flat here it was just a case of saying 'yes', signing the form, paying the deposit and saying when we wanted to move in. We had it all sorted within 24 hours - fantastic! 6 weeks later we moved in.

Some neighbours of ours were more daring - they booked a week in a hotel, looked around for rentals, and moved into the rental at the end of the week! Cool!

Hope this is reassuring!


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Its a renters market, so yes, make offers and dont expect to pay the asking price - even be bold and walk away if they wont come down, very often they'll come back

Jo xxx


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

caseyprince said:


> Thanks for this, I had a feeling there may a few 'less than reputable' estate agencies that we have been a little concerned about. One gentleman wants to show us a place outside Nerja but is emailing us from a generic hotmail account. I would be very interested in learning more from you in private messages of course. Thanks for the tip!


Of course, this could just be a private renter or one of the "runners" who go around agents finding things for people. The key is not to pay any money up front, make sure the property is theirs to rent and to see the contract and get it translated into english before signing

Jo xxx


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## caseyprince (Oct 7, 2012)

stevec2x said:


> Hi
> 
> We had a week in April to look for long term rental in the Torrevieja area. We visited a letting agent in the centre of town - he asked us what our budget was, and then found properties to match. All of the properties he showed us were actually advertised at more than our budget, but he had the knowledge/clout to get the price down to what we had said our budget was. My only regret is that we didn't give him a lower budget figure first - maybe he would have showed us the same properties! During this week, it became clear that rentals can be significantly cheaper than what's seen on the web.
> 
> ...


Fantastic, thanks for this. We are in a very similar situation to you and are planning a week of viewings and hopefully come away with something so we don't have to make another trip. Did you book your viewings in advance or did you book them when you arrived in Spain? We are trying to book our viewings in advance which can be tricky when trying to understand the actual locations of each of these properties and how long it would take to drive to each.

Thanks again, really useful stuff. I'm glad I signed onto this forum as I've had more information in just an hour than I would ever have on Google.


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## caseyprince (Oct 7, 2012)

jojo said:


> Of course, this could just be a private renter or one of the "runners" who go around agents finding things for people. The key is not to pay any money up front, make sure the property is theirs to rent and to see the contract and get it translated into english before signing
> 
> Jo xxx


Thanks Jo, would you happen to know the best place to get contracts translated? Sorry for the amount of questions.


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

caseyprince said:


> Fantastic, thanks for this. We are in a very similar situation to you and are planning a week of viewings and hopefully come away with something so we don't have to make another trip. Did you book your viewings in advance or did you book them when you arrived in Spain? We are trying to book our viewings in advance which can be tricky when trying to understand the actual locations of each of these properties and how long it would take to drive to each.
> 
> Thanks again, really useful stuff. I'm glad I signed onto this forum as I've had more information in just an hour than I would ever have on Google.


The agents in spain are notoriously bad at forward arranging viewings - you'd think they'd be more proactive in these troubled times, but no!! In my experience, its best to get there and hound them all and sit with them til they've made all the visits you want to make


Jo xxx


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## karenangell (Feb 6, 2011)

thrax said:


> Nerja is a wonderful town and the villages outside are beautiful. I assume you are going to use estate agent(s) for your search? Beware, there are a few very dodgy agents in Nerja. I won't post their names here but once you have made 5 posts you can pm me and I'll tell you the ones you should avoid and those you can trust.


hi thrax, as we are thinking or nerja and i have been there twice on holiday once in december and in september this year before it was flooded. We have been in touch with lots of estate agents, i was wondering if you would be able to inform me of the dodgy ones too if not too much trouble as we are currently emailing some and dont know if they are ok would i have to do five posts aswell before you could pm me many thanks karen angell


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## stevec2x (Mar 24, 2012)

caseyprince said:


> Fantastic, thanks for this. We are in a very similar situation to you and are planning a week of viewings and hopefully come away with something so we don't have to make another trip. Did you book your viewings in advance or did you book them when you arrived in Spain? We are trying to book our viewings in advance which can be tricky when trying to understand the actual locations of each of these properties and how long it would take to drive to each.
> 
> Thanks again, really useful stuff. I'm glad I signed onto this forum as I've had more information in just an hour than I would ever have on Google.


Hi

We tried to book viewings in advance but often found that these arrangements were a bit 'soft' - they often said "ring us when you are in Spain, and we'll see what properties we've got". When it came to it, it was a lot more productive just to walk into a letting agent - the bloke there found 4 properties and drove us around to view each of them - only took a couple of hours and we found it hard to choose which one to take (2 of them were just superb)

Cheers!


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## lanzaken (Jan 7, 2013)

Hi Caseyprince, 
Maybe you can help me, we too are comming in Feb to look for a good rental property for long time rent, can you tell me who and how you used them good and bad .
Thanks


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## caseyprince (Oct 7, 2012)

lanzaken said:


> Hi Caseyprince,
> Maybe you can help me, we too are comming in Feb to look for a good rental property for long time rent, can you tell me who and how you used them good and bad .
> Thanks


Hi there

I have certainly figured out which agents in the Nerja area I would invest my time with and the ones I wouldn't! I will send you a private message with a list of contacts and feel free to ask any questions you like as this has certainly been a learning process.


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## donk (Jan 19, 2013)

Hi There, would be interested if you know of any less than reputable sales/lettings agencies in Benalmadena area - were using some to view in February and would be glad of any inside info.


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## sim4maz (Jan 15, 2013)

caseyprince said:


> Hi there
> 
> I have certainly figured out which agents in the Nerja area I would invest my time with and the ones I wouldn't! I will send you a private message with a list of contacts and feel free to ask any questions you like as this has certainly been a learning process.


Any chance you can send us same list as heading out in April to look at long term rental properties. Thx.


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## lanzaken (Jan 7, 2013)

sim4maz said:


> Any chance you can send us same list as heading out in April to look at long term rental properties. Thx.


Hi , I dont have enogh posts to send PM but if you get in touch with Caseyprince he will help you. 
Good luck


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## sim4maz (Jan 15, 2013)

caseyprince said:


> Hi there
> 
> I have certainly figured out which agents in the Nerja area I would invest my time with and the ones I wouldn't! I will send you a private message with a list of contacts and feel free to ask any questions you like as this has certainly been a learning process.


Hi Casey,
Any chance you could help us by pointing out agents we should avoid and approach? We head out in April to find a place for a year. 
Thanks! I am new on here so can't pm you yet.
Simon & Marie


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## caseyprince (Oct 7, 2012)

sim4maz said:


> Hi Casey,
> Any chance you could help us by pointing out agents we should avoid and approach? We head out in April to find a place for a year.
> Thanks! I am new on here so can't pm you yet.
> Simon & Marie


Hi Simon & Marie

I'll send you a private message with the info. =)

Thanks

Casey


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## caseyprince (Oct 7, 2012)

sim4maz said:


> Hi Casey,
> Any chance you could help us by pointing out agents we should avoid and approach? We head out in April to find a place for a year.
> Thanks! I am new on here so can't pm you yet.
> Simon & Marie


Hi there

I am unable to send you a private message for some reason and not sure why. It seems there are others interested in the recommendations so I have provided the list below for all to see. I hope this is ok and best of luck to all of you in your search.

Burriana Properties - Shona Neilson
[email protected]
I can not recommend Shona enough, she is the most reliable and trustworthy agent we have met to date. I would definitely suggest that you contact her first to see if she can help you out.

Nerja Property Services - Laura
[email protected]
Laura is great at booking viewings in advance and communicating regularly.

Villasol - Caroline
[email protected]
Caroline is very straight to the point and tells it like it is. Their agency has more properties advertised but it is always wise to check if they are actually available before getting too excited as they may not officially be on the market yet.


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## xabiaxica (Jun 23, 2009)

caseyprince said:


> Hi there
> 
> I am unable to send you a private message for some reason and not sure why. It seems there are others interested in the recommendations so I have provided the list below for all to see. I hope this is ok and best of luck to all of you in your search.
> 
> ...


much better 


if you are personally recommending them then now everyone can benefit


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## sim4maz (Jan 15, 2013)

Thanks Casey.


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## samthemainman (Aug 15, 2012)

My advice is just use idealista or similar to find a rental property (and then go straight to the landlord) and don't go through an agent - it normally costs so much more and often involves you paying a whole months rent in commission.... Happy to be corrected - but Spanish laws favour the tenant, so unless you need an English speaking agent to help you in your search, I don't understand the value. Spanish landlords aren't always renowned for the generosity in returning deposits and there is no deposit scheme like the UK - but otherwise you should be fine.


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## caseyprince (Oct 7, 2012)

With regards to Sam's comment, all of the agents we dealt with in Nerja do not charge a fee to the tenant and recover the costs from the landlord directly. I guess like most things in Spain the situation varies depending on the area you are in. From what we understood from the agents, it is a renter's market at the moment and agencies would rather charge the landlord the fees to ensure they do not lose interest from prospective renters.

We have just signed a lease on a place and were reassured that it would be no problem to install a dedicated ADSL line. After we returned to the UK, we learned that ADSL is NOT a possibility and we are now scrambling to find a solution. My advice to anyone who requires an ADSL connection would be to contact the telecommunications provider directly BEFORE signing any paperwork. This would have saved us a lot of time/stress as we now may need to find another place to live at very short notice if we are unable to secure a connection.

Happy Searching!


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## sim4maz (Jan 15, 2013)

caseyprince said:


> With regards to Sam's comment, all of the agents we dealt with in Nerja do not charge a fee to the tenant and recover the costs from the landlord directly. I guess like most things in Spain the situation varies depending on the area you are in. From what we understood from the agents, it is a renter's market at the moment and agencies would rather charge the landlord the fees to ensure they do not lose interest from prospective renters.
> 
> We have just signed a lease on a place and were reassured that it would be no problem to install a dedicated ADSL line. After we returned to the UK, we learned that ADSL is NOT a possibility and we are now scrambling to find a solution. My advice to anyone who requires an ADSL connection would be to contact the telecommunications provider directly BEFORE signing any paperwork. This would have saved us a lot of time/stress as we now may need to find another place to live at very short notice if we are unable to secure a connection.
> 
> Happy Searching!


Thanks Casey. Good to know as I will deffo need Internet! Are you in nerja area? We coming over en famille for exploration trip in April so would be great to chat to a local if you are in area? Simon and Marie


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